See the moment a kidney recipient finally meets the woman who saved her life
Leesa Thompson of Courtland Manor, New York, feels grateful to be alive. Thompson is a true survivor, having battled severe kidney problems from a young age.
"It started when I was 18," says Thompson. "And it lasted for over 40 years. When I was 58 or so, I was told that I was very anemic. My numbers were not good. And ultimately, in spite of everything with diet and exercise and hydration, they just could not save my kidneys."
Unfortunately, Thompson and her doctors determined that she was not a good candidate for dialysis based on her previous medical history.
"I had had dialysis with a shunt in my neck in 2008 for ten days," she says. "I was comatose with convulsions, so it was a horrible experience."
Thompson needed a transplant, preferably from a living donor, which may cause fewer complications for the recipient. However, rather than sit around waiting, Thompson decided to be proactive.
Assisted by renewal.org, an organization that helps people suffering from kidney disease, she set up a website and Facebook page in the hope of finding a donor. But it was a mass email sent by her partner, Jeff, that paid off. After reading about Thompson's plight, Ed Holowinko of Norwalk, Connecticut, offered to donate one of his kidneys.
As it turned out, Ed's blood type didn't match Thompson's. However, he did agree to a kidney swap in which his kidney was donated to someone else on the waiting list in exchange for Thompson getting a matching kidney from a donor in California.
"When I found out that I had a kidney donor, I was thrilled," Thompson explains. "I felt that the work I had put into it had paid off and that my life was going to be saved."
Watch the video to see the moment Leesa met the donor who saved her life!
Thompson's surgery went ahead, which made her one of the lucky ones. In the U.S., only some 20,000 kidney transplants are performed each year. That means that annually, less than a quarter of those who need a new kidney end up getting one.
The person who'd saved Thompson's life was health care worker Kerri Tanner. During the course of her job, she’d come across the story of a 13-year-old girl who needed a kidney transplant. Regrettably, tests showed that Tanner was not a match for the teenager, but that didn’t deter her.
"I have always been an individual who wanted to find ways to help people," says Tanner. "When I researched it, there was over 90,000 people on the registry in the United States who all needed kidneys. And I realized that it didn't matter to me who I was donating a kidney to. And so, they came back to me about another week later and said, we have a match."
Despite a few complications, Thompson's surgery was a success. After recovering, both women would try to make contact over the next year, but their letters went astray.
"I sent a typed letter with eternal gratitude to Kerri," says Thompson. "I told her a little bit about me, and I folded it up and put it inside a thank you card. And I figured, yeah, what's the big deal. She's gonna get it, and she'll respond."
But Tanner didn’t respond as she hadn’t received a letter. However, she didn’t stop thinking about the person who had her kidney. And when the COVID-10 pandemic arrived in 2020, she dropped Thompson a line asking if she was OK. This time, the letter got through.
"I just kept crying, and I was just so happy to finally know who she was," says Thompson. "After I stopped crying enough, I emailed Kerri, and then I called her, and we both cried. And she said she had written countless times and tried and tried and tried to connect. And we decided that we would do a Zoom."
After staying in touch for more than a year, the two women finally arranged to meet face-to-face. And as Thompson explains, it was an overwhelming experience.
"It was amazing to be able to hug my kidney mom. That was the best feeling in the world, and to be able to thank her for my life and keeping me alive for me to help others, and for me to be here for my family. I just have no words."
