Web Site Helps Local Woman Donate KidneySaturday, February 13, 2010 9:42:46 AM
Reported by Jacqueline Fell
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS -- Cindi Love is packing for Minnesota. In just a few days she will give the gift of life to a man she's only met once. She's donating her kidney.
“He had a great family and really wanted to see them grow up. Of course it was very touching," Love said.
Love was disappointed she couldn't give one of her kidneys to her nephew, who is on dialysis and has diabetes.
After going through a number of medical tests though, she still wanted to see if there was someone else she could help. So she jumped on her computer and started searching.
Love describes Matchingdonors.com as a dating service for kidneys. She set up her profile, entered her blood type, and waited for recipients to contact her. Tom Wirt from the Rochester, Minn. area was the first to respond.
Wirt is a 69-year-old father and grandfather who has kidney disease. He has dialysis treatment three days a week for 4-5 hours a day.
“It was pretty incredible. I know he's not really related to me, but I do believe we're all brothers and sisters in this world,” Love said. “I truly believe that and I thought I'm gonna put my kidney where my mouth is now.”
Now, through the miracle of the Internet, Love's all packed up and ready to head to the Mayo Clinic.
The transplant, which is a major surgery, is on Wednesday. She'll be back to Central Florida in a few weeks.
While she'll return with one less organ, helping someone like her nephew get off dialysis is a dream come true.
There are more than 90,000 people waiting for kidney transplants.
The organ donating Web page says 19 people die every day waiting for a transplant, most of them are for kidneys.
http://www.cfnews13.com/Health/YourHealth/2010/2/12/web_site_helps_local_woman_donate_kidney.html?refresh=1#
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