Donor Search Success Stories

Michael Saylor got a mulligan—a second chance at life after experiencing kidney failure at age 44—thanks to a living kidney donor who responded to a Facebook plea for a donor from Michael’s wife, LeighAnn. Now the Saylors want to pay it forward by helping give a mulligan to others.

Lt. Derek Foss of Southern Manatee Fire Rescue in Florida was honored by state leaders for donating a kidney and saving the life of 33-year-old Brianne Baker. Foss was a perfect six-out-of-six antigen match with Baker.

Donnie Pickeral, a pastor at Aycock Fellowship Ministries in Greensboro, N.C., lived with a rare kidney disease called IgA nephropathy for 31 years. He’d often chat with his pharmacist, Kathleen Kirkland, when he was picking up his prescriptions, and he finally mentioned his condition. Kathleen’s reaction was immediate: she wanted to give him a kidney.

For a majority of his career, Dr. Arjang “Aji” Djamali has wanted to donate a kidney to a person in need of a transplant, and he finally got the chance. On June 29, Dr. Djamali donated a kidney to one of his former patients.

Twins Jacob and Cameron Meadows, 18, spent most of their life in and out of hospitals and in search of kidney donors. After sharing their plea on a billboard more than four years ago, the boys are now young men in good health who encourage others to become kidney donors.

It’s not just blood that makes people family. For Susan Tower and Roosevelt Williams, it was luck. Last September, 7 Action News outsourced on the airwaves to help Roosevelt find a kidney. Susan saw the video and thought, “Hey, I’m type A. He’s type A. Why not just see if I can do this?”

To find a kidney donor for her son, Desiree Teubert posted heartfelt requests on TikTok. The videos caught the eye of Heather Kimbrough, who was eventually approved to be his donor. On March 19, Ryder got a new kidney.

Last summer, Debbie Munley was leaving Target in Marlborough, MA, when she saw Gail Weisberg’s sign on her car in the parking lot pleading for someone to donate a kidney. Without hesitation, Munley approached Weisberg and offered to help. Now, the two are recovering at home after a successful kidney transplant.

A lengthy search for a kidney donor, which involved a woman’s friends taking out a billboard to help, has a happy ending. K.C. Strader has a new kidney.

A Bucks County man needing a kidney donor has found a match, all thanks to social media. “I felt like I won the lottery of life, I really did,” Joe Fitch commented.