A Grandmother in Missouri Donates a Kidney to a Stranger

Today’s Less of Me story is about a grandmother who donated a kidney to someone she didn’t know. Her name is Linda Russell and she is from Missouri. One day her daughter-in-law, who is a transplant nurse at a northern hospital, came to visit. While they were chatting the daughter-in-law mentioned that the human body can do just fine with only one kidney. Linda immediately volunteered to be a donor.

With 85,000 people awaiting kidneys it wasn’t long until a match was found. A mom in Washington D.C. who was already on dialysis was the recipient of Linda’s kidney. According to Russell the act of donating was more a calling than an act of courage. I don’t know about that. It sure seems like a pretty courageous thing to do to me.

After I read about Linda I googled “donate an organ” and found a site that says as of yesterday’s date there are 105,301 waiting transplants. That’s a lot of people and a lot of families who are waiting, hoping and praying.

What a generous and loving way to focus on the needs of others. Bless you Linda, and others like you who take the word “giving” to a whole new level!

Linda’s story

http://www.ksdk.com/news/cover_story/story.aspx?storyid=190540&catid=4

Donate an organ

http://organdonor.gov/