Monica

Photo: clipart.com

Feel Good Story: Living Donor Donates for a Second Time

A fact about organ donation in the United States is that more than 100,000 people are currently waiting for an organ transplant, and while 95% of Americans claim to support organ donation, only 58% are signed up as a donor.

James Neal is one of the 58% who signed up to be a donor, and has actually given an organ to a recipient in need . . . not once, but TWICE!

The first time was a kidney donation in 2016, and now he’s given part of his liver to a total stranger whom he met for the first time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The recipient, Margaret Boden, had been suffering from severe liver disease and was on the transplant waiting list, but doctors told her she would likely not  live to see her daughter’s spring wedding.

Margaret’s daughter got tested to see if she was a match for her mom, but she wasn’t.

James was inspired to become a donor for the second time while attending a donor-recipient brunch and felt like if he could help another person, he should.

Shortly after, James got the call that he had a match . . . Margaret Boden.

The transplant, a complex procedure of two simultaneous surgeries by two full teams, happened in March, and was a success.

James spent three months recovering from the procedure before he was able to get back to work, but doesn’t regret the decision to donate again, saying, “It was like, someone told me ‘one person cannot change the world. But on person can change the wold of one person.”

The two-time donor isn’t sure if he’ll donate again, saying, “I cannot grow another kidney [and] my liver could only be divided in half once.”

Thanks to James, Margaret was able to watch her daughter walk down the aisle last month. She shares, “I feel like [James] is [on my shoulder] all the time. If it wasn’t for my guard — I was calling him my guardian angel — I wouldn’t be here.”

(MSN)

Recent Headlines

1 day ago in Entertainment

The game’s afoot as armchair detectives mark Sherlock Holmes Day

From 221B Baker Street in central London to a cliffside waterfall in the Swiss Alps, generations of armchair detectives are celebrating International Sherlock Holmes Day on Friday.

1 day ago in Entertainment, Trending

Paul McCartney helps Stephen Colbert say goodbye to ‘The Late Show’ in ambitious final show

Stephen Colbert chatted with Paul McCartney and joined him on stage for a raucous performance of "Hello, Goodbye" on the final broadcast of CBS' "The Late Show" on Thursday night, a bittersweet farewell for a canceled show that still had a few barbs left for the network that ended its 33-year run.

1 day ago in Sports, Trending

2-time NASCAR champ Kyle Busch dies at 41 after being hospitalized with a ‘severe illness’

Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion who won more races than anyone across NASCAR's three national series, has died. He was 41. The Busch Family, Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR issued a joint statement Thursday saying Busch died after being hospitalized. No cause of death was given.

2 days ago in Entertainment

Rami Malek explores art, love and death in Ira Sachs’ Cannes entry ‘The Man I Love’

In Ira Sachs' 1980s-set drama "The Man I Love," Rami Malek finds the most well-tailored role since his Oscar-winning portrayal of Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody."

3 days ago in Entertainment

As ‘The Boys’ ends, actors reveal their craziest stunts and what’s next for Vought

After five seasons of death, depravity and digs at the capitalistic superhero-industrial complex, "The Boys" dropped its series finale Wednesday.