South Carolina resident, George Adams is truly grateful of a recent gift he’s received from a stranger. According to ABC News, Adams was diagnosed with kidney disease 15 years ago and was on the transplant waitlist for 9 months.
On May 30, the 48-year-old father of three received a rare kidney donation from altruistic kidney donor, Tracy Schmitz.
“It was a blessing to a get a call just that quick,” Adams told local Raleigh-Durham ABC affiliate WTVD. “It was a blessing for a total stranger to provide a gift of life… There’s no way of repaying her. She is an amazing person to do that.”
ABC News reports about 3 percent of living kidney donors donate to a stranger, while the majority of donors donate to friends and family who are in need. Initially, Schmitz was inspired to donate after learning her friend’s teen daughter needed a kidney. Though she tested and wasn’t a match for the teen, she was still determined to donate to someone in need.
“I was thinking somebody needs a kidney, I have two, I can live with one so, why not share the spare,” she told WTVD. “I just knew that somebody was dying and they needed one and I didn’t think twice about it.”
Schmitz’s benevolence sparked a chain of four donors, including Adams’ wife, and four recipients.
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“I call her my sister,” Adams said of Schmitz’s life-saving act, “we’re brothers and sisters now because we can always be connected.”
