Thanks to modern medicine, humans are able to have certain organs successfully transplanted into them when their original organs fail or are damaged.
But getting a new organ isn’t easy.
First, you have to get put on the transplant which has many rules and restrictions. If you’re lucky enough to get on the list, you have to wait behind others on the list until an organ becomes available.
So, those who don’t get on the list, or don’t have time to wait for an organ, result to asking family and friends who would be a match if they’d be willing to donate one of their organs.
But sometimes that route fails and people have to get creative in their search for a donor.
Karen Aguayo and her friend spotted one of these people in an Arizona Costco. This man was wearing a t-shirt that read “Kidney donor needed, Type B+, Ask me how.” Aguayo was compelled to talk to the man.
“I felt like it was the right thing to do,” Aguayo told azcentral. “Once I read his shirt I felt something in my heart. It’s not every day that you see shirts that say that and that was a first for my friends and I.”
She learned that the man’s name was Robert Duran and that he has been waiting for a donor for four years.
He and his wife made the shirts after his first year on the organ donor waiting list. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says there are 95,287 people on the kidney transplant list. It’s the most sought-after organ.
“We go all over the place wearing them,” Duran said of the t-shirts. “We are just hoping someone sees them.”
Duran told Aguayo that he was diagnosed with stage five kidney disease and that he goes for dialysis three times a week for four hours at a time.
“He said (he) has gone to the airport and pretends like he has a flight while wearing that shirt,” Aguayo said. “That hit home.”
“It is tearing her apart,” said Duran.
Aguayo was so moved by Duran’s story that she posted a photo of him on Twitter to help him find a donor.
“I decided to post it on social media because I thought maybe someone out there that has a Twitter, can donate theirs or just help with a simple retweet to find him a donor,” she said.
Here’s what the tweet read:
“We came across this man at Costco and we asked him about his shirt. He said he has been looking for a donor for four years and still nothing. Please do me a favor and RT this. For more info about him DM me.”
That tweet ended up going viral and was retweeted more than 264,000 times.
“I think of them as a saint,” said Duran. “I think the Lord brought them down for me.”
Duran has several potential donors as a result of Aguayo’s post.
“There are several potential donors as of right now. I don’t know much about the process but I do know it takes time,” she wrote on Twitter. “So if you are asking if he has a specific donor the answer is no. Robert will let me know when he has a match and so will I.”
This story is a perfect example of the power of the internet and how a small act of kindness can go a long way. It can even save a life.
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