Facebook helps local woman find kidney
11:06 PM, Mar 15, 2011
By Jeff Small
St. Louis, MO (KSDK) - A St. Louis woman's kidney is the talk of social media.
Emily McFarland suffered kidney failure in college and received a kidney from her mother. A kidney transplant was successful until 2007 when Emily McFarland was forced to go back on dialysis. McFarland now has Facebook and Twitter campaign to find her a new kidney.
Emily's kidney has its own Twitter account and it's very popular Facebook page. Two friends came up with a way to use social media to find a donor for their best friend.
"It would have been boring and not fun to just say please give my friend a kidney so making it have a little personality and be a little tongue and cheek made it easier to write," said best friend Maria Perotti.
A light-hearted spirit has made what could have been an uncomfortable situation easy for people to understand and want to support. Emily's kidney has already gotten over 2,000 friends and followers, and at least 15 people have come forward to see if they can donate.
"People that I don't even know and that's amazing and I don't even know how to process it," said kidney patient Emily McFarland.
Doctors said more patients waiting on transplant lists are turning to alternative means and said it could help.
"We definitely recommend patients who come here for a transplant to go ahead and try to tap all resources," said Barnes Jewish Hospital physician Dr. Jason Wellen.
So far, people have contacted Emily's kidney from 40 states and eight countries, including New Zealand.
If you want to help, visit facebook.com/emilys.kidney or on Twitter @emilyskidney.
http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/249694/3/Facebook-helps-local-woman-find-kidney
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