Social media pleas net kidneys, help save lives

Social media pleas net kidneys, help save lives
Facebook, Craigslist and Twitter make it easier for donors and recipients to connect.

By Ann Tracy Mueller | Posted: January 4, 2012

In Seattle, one man got a new kidney recently and another has one on the way. Earlier this year, a stand-up comic donated a kidney to the husband of a Facebook friend.

In December, Dan Garrett received his new kidney from Allie Carr. In a Q13Fox.com    news story, Carr said, "I wanted to do something meaningful, and if I could give this to them, then I think that everyone should consider it."

Damon Brown, married and the father of two, also used Facebook in his plea for a kidney. Brown told    Fox17Online.com, "I really kind of put myself out there, saying I needed a transplant, was going through renal failure and, um, I'm really a private person so it took a lot to do it."

He'll receive a kidney next month from a friend.

A Michigan stand-up comic, Richard Cisco learned on Facebook last summer that Jeff Kurze, a friend's husband, needed a kidney. Before the surgery Cisco told WXYZ.com, "I recently did stand-up for the first time, and that was far more scary than this kidney operation."

Selina Hodges of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida used a Craigslist ad to seek a kidney. Stephanie Grant told    PalmBeachCoast.com, "I had a gut instinct when I saw the request for a donor on television. I had to get involved." Grant, who did not know Hodges before learning of the ad, donated the kidney in December.

And, Ktar.com reports that last year, Twitter was the conduit connecting an Arizona woman, Anu Dwivedi, with her organ donor, Amy Donohue.

Is social media the new hope for people needing organ transplants? Or, are these rare instances of connections made thanks to the kindness of strangers?

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