Top Story, Hospitals

Woman receives kidney from donor met on Tinder

Tinder appears to have more value than just being a trendy spot for singles to match up.

Many people use the dating app Tinder to match up with potential partners, but it’s much less likely that someone will find a suitable match for an organ transplant the same way. And it didn’t happen the way you might think – three people were involved.

Jennifer Thomas and Rich O’Dea met through Tinder and went on a date. O’Dea’s friend Erika Bragan’s, who suffers from the genetic disorder Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), was the one in need of a kidney. Through meeting on just one date, Thomas just officially donated her kidney to Bragan.

“You feel like you’re giving something up for someone else, but in the giving, you receive so much more,” Thomas said, according to Rebooti. “I feel just like a better person, I feel like I’ve discovered why I’m here.”

“I never thought that it would actually happen, that I would get a live donor, and that someone would be willing to part with a kidney just to help me and my family,” Bragan said.

It turns out that the Tinder date happened just at the right time to save Bragan’s life as well.

“Erika’s kidneys are literally failing and they weren’t going to make it until the end of this year so the timing even is just incredible,” said O’Dea.

The romantic relationship between Thomas and O’Dea doesn’t seem to have panned out, but it was clearly all worth it.

Photo: Flickr user uditha wickramanayaka

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