How Far Would You Go to Save Someone’s Life?

A kidney donor and recipient share their stories at a live storytelling event hosted by Health Story Collaborative at WBUR’s CitySpace.

 20 people die every day in the United States waiting for an organ transplant. If you were a match for someone who needed a living donor, would you save another’s life by giving part of your own? 

Genevieve did. When she learned her work colleague Mike needed a living donor to cure his kidney disease, she immediately felt called to help, and she was a match. The process not only entailed an onslaught of medical appointments and tests, the surgery and recovery period—but also shifts in her own sense of self and in her relationship to Mike. And for Mike, what did it mean to be receiving an organ—really a second chance at life—from another person, one whom he knew professionally and would continue to work with? How did this grand gesture of generosity connect and change them? 

 On May 23, at WBUR's CitySpace, Genevieve and Mike shared their version of this extraordinary journey. It was an amazing event, healing for storytellers and audience members alike. 

Watch the video here. 

Listening will give you faith in the capacity for compassion, connection and dignity in healthcare.