I expanded my personal social media feed last week to include “World Channel.” I often find myself immersed in its programming on television, particularly the “America Reframed” series, so I figured: Why not get a sneak peek via Facebook?
The second post that came through my feed highlighted tonight’s premiere of the “Perfect Strangers” documentary. It profiles U.S. women living 500 miles apart who became connected when the possibility of one giving the other a kidney arises.
It reminded me of a few living donor stories that have passed through the print and online pages of The Catholic Sun in recent years.
- ‘It’s life or death’: Local Catholic turns to social media for living kidney donor (Sept 2012)
It appears that young man featured, Remy Marceau, received a transplant two months after that article ran. Catch up on his journey a bit via Facebook. - Local musician donates kidney in quadruple swap (Feb. 2011)
All eight patients involved in a paired donation process signed documents waiving the confidentiality agreement and planned to meet at a later date. - Donor says helping her pastor an easy decision: ‘He needed a kidney’ (Dec. 2014)
My favorite part about this story comes in the eighth paragraph:
Asked what it was about Father Whyte that prompted her to make the offer, Domashinski paused, as if puzzled by the question. “He needed a transplant. He needed a kidney,” she said.
Domashinski went on to tell her doctor that should she die during the procedure, to give the pastor her pancreas as well. She credited her upbringing for her decisions. Domashinski’s parents told her, “You’re not here just to be a piece of furniture.”
The priest is later quoted, “As we like to say here at St. Catherine’s, we’re going to take away her envelope. She doesn’t have to give anymore.”
A similar story had promise for a retired priest in the Diocese of Phoenix. Sadly, he was recently stripped of his “candidate” status for a kidney transplant.
