Donor Search Success Stories

Ernie Falbo’s future certainly looked, well, uncertain that day two years ago his doctor told him he had kidney disease. Stage 4 kidney disease. At age 79. His numbers were bad and getting worse, the doctor said, and soon he would need daily dialysis or a transplant. 

Arnold “Sandy” Strauss, a retired teacher and coach of Valley Central Middle School and Wallkill High School, received a special gift two weeks ago: a spare kidney from Becky Maher, a Valley Central graduate and Monticello School teacher, allowing him to continue living a healthy, happy life with his family.

Longtime Guilford resident Mark Harris is experiencing kidney failure and is hoping that by sharing his story, he can do what he does best: educate.

For the past 33 years, Thomas and Rhonda Johnson have been inseparable from small moments to hard times. In 2022, Thomas heard devastating news. “I knew that I had 50% usage of my kidney. And so, I just was like, I wasn’t concerned about it until they told me the numbers. And it was like […]

Angelina and Jereme were classmates in typing class together 25 years ago and now they’re bonded through a living kidney donation.

For Andrew Reinhardt, the decision to donate a kidney to their uncle was easy. “It’s pretty simple math for me,” Reinhardt says. “I’ve got two good kidneys and one good uncle.”

Teenage years can be hard enough, but most teens don’t have to spend hours in the car hooked up to a machine just to stay alive. But one boy from Annabella, Utah, faced just that until he got help from caregivers at Intermountain Sevier Valley Hospital, Primary Children’s Hospital, and an altruistic kidney donor.

One family from Annabella knows the commute to Salt Lake City all too well. It’s where they spent several scary visits to the hospital for their sick son. “I tried to go back to swim practice, then I started blacking out,” Henry Coulter said.

A local couple celebrates the gift of life thanks to a neighbor. It all started a few years ago with a billboard for Linda McGrane. She had friends who owned the company that put up a billboard.

One Reading family is making a special plea for a donation but it isn’t your average ask; they’re asking for a lifesaving organ. “I am at end stage renal failure, which means my kidneys barely function,” said Melanie Johnson, who is in need of a kidney transplant.