Donor Search Success Stories

When Debbie Kooker received a new kidney, she had no idea who the donor was. Her donor,Kara Wallace, is only 20 years old. Her family has been close to Debbie’s family for decades, and Kara knew her gift had to be top secret because Debbie would have tried to talk her out of it.

When Ira Hadnot needed a kidney transplant, her brother, Kelvin, wanted to donate but couldn’t. Kelvin’s boss, Gina Micheli, told Kelvin she wanted to be Ira’s donor. “He didn’t ask her, we didn’t put up a billboard, we didn’t go on TV,” Ira exclaimed. “She just stepped forward and volunteered, and it was a match!”

It was during the Lenten season in 2022 that Dr. Christine Gaynier received an email from a longtime friend of her mother. The message was about the friend’s 17-year-old son, Will, who needed a kidney transplant and was looking for a donor. Gaynier, a local family medicine physician, wanted to help.

After months of driving around the city with an advertisement for a kidney donor on her bright red car, Debbie Onishenko will soon be able to rip off the decals as her search has ended.

When Linda Griggs needed a kidney transplant, an artist friend helped get the word out with a 5-foot hand-painted sign including the URL to Griggs’ National Kidney Registry microsite. The sign got 137 potential donors to register with the NKR. One was a match.

A Flagstaff man has received the gift of life, undergoing successful transplant surgery after his wife spent months trying to find him a living donor. Their miracle was finally answered when a woman contacted them through Facebook and ended up being a match.

Back in 1966, when kidney transplants were new and dangerous, Butch Newman was days from death. Then his younger sister stepped up. She was a perfect match.

Daniella Neve is one of the top softball players in the country for her age and has 84,000 followers on TikTok, so when her dad needed a kidney, she used TikTok to try to find a living donor. Her ask went viral, and a donor was found.

Michael Saylor got a mulligan—a second chance at life after experiencing kidney failure at age 44—thanks to a living kidney donor who responded to a Facebook plea for a donor from Michael’s wife, LeighAnn. Now the Saylors want to pay it forward by helping give a mulligan to others.

Lt. Derek Foss of Southern Manatee Fire Rescue in Florida was honored by state leaders for donating a kidney and saving the life of 33-year-old Brianne Baker. Foss was a perfect six-out-of-six antigen match with Baker.