The picture of the smiling little girl on the flier was more than Laura Bolan could take.
The 8-year-old on the pamphlet needed a kidney transplant, and Bolan knew she could help. She did a quick Web search on the surgery and talked it over with her husband. Then she made a phone call to offer one of her kidneys to Sarah Dickman.
The suburban Atlanta girl was born with the genetic disease juvenile nephronophthisis, which slowly destroys the kidneys. Without treatment, it can kill a child before the age of 15.
Bolan, 34, had never met Sarah when she agreed to donate the organ.
Sarah’s parents, Lori and Joe Dickman, had added Sarah’s name to a national waiting list for transplant recipients after learning that neither parent was a match to donate a kidney. The flier was just a shot in the dark.
clipped from: www.msnbc.msn.com