“When I was first diagnosed, I felt like, ‘Well, I’m dying’,” he said. “It was not my first encounter with mortality. I had some situations in military. But this was really out of my control. There’s nothing you can do. It’s kind of black cloud that hangs over your head all the time,” Vilano said.
The simplest act of kindness can profoundly change someone’s life.
A smile, a friendly glance, or even just a compliment can completely change someone’s outlook or trajectory in life.
It might even save their life. Starbucks barista did a regular of hers one better.
She found him a new kidney that would both change and save his life.
It all started with the simplest act of kindness.
Nicole McNeil saw one of her regulars who looked kind of sad one day.
“I knew him as Trenta Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew, full pumps,” she told Starbucks’ website.
So she asked the man, an Army vet named Vince Vilano, what was wrong.
He told her it was a long story and that she wouldn’t have time to listen.
Source:
YouTube Screenshot - Starbucks Coffee
But she did and told her that she would stop to chat after she got off in a few minutes.
“As a barista, we can really tell when our customers are sad and when they’re hurting and so it was neat to have the opportunity to talk with him,” she said.
Vilano explained that he had Polycystic Kidney disease which required him to undergo dialysis for years.
His other option was to find a kidney.
Vilano was put on the transplant list but that could take four or five years. Some people pass away before they get the opportunity for a new organ.
According to TODAY, Dr. Partha Raguram at CHI Franciscan in Tacoma, Washington estimated that 80,000 people are on the list at any given time and only about 16,000 get transplants each year.
When McNeil went home that night, she couldn’t get Vilano’s story out of her head.
So, she shared his story with her husband, Justin McNeil, who is also an Army veteran.
“I have a kidney. He can have mine,” Justin McNeil told his wife.
McNeil invited Vilano over to her house and he and her husband became fast friends.
Justin McNeil’s kidney ended up being a match for Vilano. They were as close as a match could be for people who weren’t biologically related.
Source:
YouTube Screenshot - Starbucks Coffee
Justin McNeil underwent surgery to donate his kidney on his 36th birthday.
The surgery was a success giving Vilano at least another 20 years of life.
“But in the end, it really is a life-or-death question. And so it makes it a non-question,” Justin McNeil said. “We’re all called to give and attempt to make a difference and to do it unselfishly and if you can do that, if you can do your small piece and just be satisfied with it. The point is just to simply attempt to make a small difference and then you’ll probably find that it’s bigger to somebody out there.”
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By D.G. Sciortino
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D.G. is a contributing writer in Shareably. She's based in Connecticut and can be reached at [email protected].