Utah man donates kidney to classmate he hadn’t seen in 20 years

When a father from Utah saw a former classmate needed a kidney on Facebook, he was tested to see if he was a match.

The two hadn’t connected in 20 years.

Steve Kostiuk’s kidneys started failing late last year. For the husband and father of four young children, the future was uncertain. Unable to find a donor, he started campaigning for kidney on Facebook and even posted “I need a kidney” with his blood type and phone number on his car, CBS Denver reported.

Kostiuk, of Denver, started a Facebook page, Don’t Need Pity, Just Need A Kidney, in November of last year.

Chad Logan, who knew Kostiuk from high school, told KSL he hadn’t considered being a living donor before seeing his classmate’s call on Facebook.

“There was just something about reading that that I just intuitively knew,” he said. “And it’s weird to say, but that’s kind of what prompted me to kind of move forward and see if I was going to be an option for him.”

Logan, also a father of four, found out he was a match April 5. Both men had surgery May 16 at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center in Denver and are now doing well.

"I can't believe how amazing I feel just 5 weeks post transplant," Kostiuk told Paste BN.

Earlier this year, an Oxford University professor looked at more than 3,300 Facebook users and determined out of an average of 150 Facebook friends each, users only had about 4 Facebook friends who were dependable.

Logan is now not just a dependable Facebook friend – but the man who saved Kostiuk’s life.