Physical Wellness

A Kidney Donor and a New Friend Found on Craigslist

By Kanika Gupta | Update Date: Nov 27, 2015 01:54 PM EST

When Glenn Calderbrank responded to a request for Kidney donor for his wife, he was looking for a marble slab for a construction project. He said, "It kind of hit home for me." Happened months before in summer, today Calderbank, 49, is donating one of his kidneys to Nina Saria, that was earlier a Craigslist stranger and now a friend for life. Calderbank decided to help the couple because he faced similar circumstances nearly 15 years ago when he posted an ad for his wife Jessica in a local newspaper. Jessica Calderbank was suffering from a kidney disease and her husband wasn't the right match for her. Back then, it was a very unusual alternative as organ donations happened on an anonymous basis, until it was from a family member. " Calderbank told CNN by phone from West Berlin, New Jersey, "I felt like no one was doing anything beyond putting her on a list. This is all I've got," he said when he placed the ad in the newspaper.

Nina Saria, the receiver of the kidney, said that at first the pain in her arm and knee was thought to be because of her workout. She said, "It just felt like a muscle ache." However, soon her pain culminated into breathing trouble and a diagnosis later, it was discovered tat she suffers from end-stage renal failure from microscopic polyangitis, said her husband's ad. For all this time, her disease had been dormant and it meant that her dialysis must start immediately. Thus began the search for a kidney donor. Saria learned that there was at least 6-7 years wait before she could get the kidney. Her husband Kay decided to take to the Craigslist and post a classified ad seeking a brave donor. "We are a family of four, me and my wife are 32, our son is 6 and our dog is 4. My wife is a very sweet woman with a big heart," the ad read. "If you are brave and find it in your heart that you want to save her life, I urge you to reply to this post." Calderbank responded to the ad as soon as he saw it. After three months of testing, from blood tests with doctors to psychiatrists and lawyers and was finally signaled to go ahead with the donation, reports CNN.

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