Who Is Your Hero?

Do you have a personal hero? Tell us about them. It doesn’t have to be perfect to make a difference in someone else’s life.

Your Everyday Hero: Michele M.

I was in kidney failure and on dialysis for a year when a stranger replied to a posting on a living donor web site. She was 35, had four kids, a husband, and was willing to give me a kidney. We were cross-matched, and she was able to donate her kidney to me. In May of last year, we met for the first time. In August she donated not only a kidney, but bone marrow to me. I had been given roughly six months to live without transplant.

Michele is amazing to me, and her husband is so supportive. I'm so thankful to have met her and her family. She is now co-chairing an event for a kidney foundation raising money for kidney disease research. She has nobody in her family who has needed an organ; her kids are healthy. She is just out there telling her story to get more people to become donors.

Story was submitted anonymously