I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: News Articles => Topic started by: okarol on December 26, 2010, 12:51:45 AM
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Facebook post saves girl's life with kidney disease
By Kyle Porter
Updated: 12/25/2010 5:31:14 PM
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. -- An Andover girl is home just in time for the holidays after a kidney transplant from a complete stranger.
Donette Warren used the popular social networking site Facebook, to find a donor for her daughter, ten-year-old Vivica Loyd.
"I was posting on Facebook all day," Warren said. "I was posting the message to help my daughter and to please repost."
The post caught Cathy Olsen's eye, which she saw on a friends' Facebook wall. The Big Lake mother of three, who has never had a surgery performed, asked her family their opinion, which they approved. Olsen was tested and determined a match.
Olsen wondered if she should save her kidney's, just in case her own children would be in need one day. Since family aren't automatically considered matches, Olsen couldn't ignore the ten year old in need.
"I couldn't sit around and watch a girl die, that I knew I was a match for," Olsen said. "I don't feel like a hero, but it feels great."
Olsen gave up her kidney at the University of Minnesota November 17th.
Vivica ended her three year run on dialysis, which she was hooked up to 12 hours a night. She's been sick her entire life, being born with six holes in her heart, having had five strokes and over forty surgeries.
"This is the best gift anyone can give," Warren said. "It's priceless. I can never tell Cathy thank you enough."
"I hope she's having the best Christmas ever, it sounds like she is," Olsen said.
Vivica will be on medications for the span of the kidney.
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=895807&catid=391