One Good Deed Leads to AnotherPosted By: Matt Pearl Date last updated: 10/21/2008 6:56:23 PM
Two Olean residents, who have built their lives around giving, helped each other through dire situations.
Today they're friends who meet for coffee or dinner at least once a week.
Two years ago, Julie Wolf and Linda Padilla didn't even know each other -- despite both growing up in the same area of the Southern Tier.
It was at point when Linda's mother, Julia Waldeck, was diagnosed with cancer for the fifth time in her life. She needed to get to the hospital five days a week for radiation treatments; Linda and her sister turned to the volunteer organization Interfaith Caregivers, headed by Julie Wolf.
While her organization gave rides to Ms. Waldeck, Julie was going through her own struggle -- dialysis. Her kidneys had shut down long ago, and she was making her own drives to the hospital as a result.
Linda came to the rescue.
She had been looking to donate a kidney, and while searching on the Western New York Kidney Connection web site, she came across Julie's name. The two hadn't met, but when Linda read Julie's biography, she realized Julie was the person whose organization had helped out her mother.
Months of tests and one operation later, Julie had a new kidney -- thanks to Linda.
Click the video link on the right for the full story. And be sure to check out the links below.
Interfaith Caregivers:
http://www.interfaithcaregiversinc.orgWNY Kidney Connection:
http://www.wnykidneyconnection.org/VIDEO:
http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=61580