Strangers become forever friends after kidney transplant
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- They were two strangers who are now friends forever, connected by a Facebook post and a lifesaving act of kindness.
"She gave me my life back...she is saying she is not a hero but she gave me my life back. She gave my family back to me and she gave me back to my family," says Denice Ruth of Kutztown.
Denice Ruth had been living with kidney disease for years. Her health was failing and she was on the verge of dialysis. She needed a miracle - in the form of a kidney transplant.
In a desperate plea for help, her 9 year old son created this Facebook Post asking for someone to donate a kidney to help save his mother's life. Thousands of people saw the post and responded but the most important, was Wendy Shaylor; she was a prefect match.
"When I saw her post, there was picture of a lady with a young boy and I thought this is a mother that needs to be there for her son later in life and I thought this is a perfect candidate to be somebody I could help," said Wendy Shaylor of Shillington.
Shaylor had never had surgery and was afraid of needles but knew she had to do something.
She says her motivation was her niece, who was living with Leukemia. Certain restrictions prevented Shaylor from helping her niece but she could help Ruth- and she did.
"The way I look at it is that God gave us two but we only really need one, so I think God gave us the extra one to help other people with," Shaylor said.
March 1st the procedure was done at Einstein Medical Center and everything well.
Ruth has now made it her mission to help others battling kidney disease. She's now trying to help her friend Scott Bedics.
"He is on that dialysis and he is hooked up every night to tubes and it is horrific. So our new normal is paying it forward for the rest of our lives," Ruth said.
Ruth says she can't find the words to describe a total stranger, that would donate their kidney but these two women are no longer strangers, but friends and forever connected.
"I don't feel like a hero, I just feel like I helped somebody and I like helping people and to me it is no different than donating blood," Shaylor added.
