Man Donates Kidney To Cashier

By Staff in Miscellaneous on Mar 27, 2010 4:15PM

An Evanston Jewel-Osco cashier found a kidney donor in an unlikely spot - a regular customer of hers. Dan Coyne often chose Myra de la Vega’s checkout line because she was friendly. Coyne, 52, started to notice Vega, 49, looking sick when she started dialysis for kidney failure. She was hoping her sister from the Philippines would be a kidney donor match, but the matching tests failed. After researching organ donation and completing compatibility tests, Coyne offered Vega his kidney.

"If we can be friends and our families support each other, fine," Coyne told the Chicago Tribune, "but I want her to know she is in no way obligated to continue a relationship with me after she gets the kidney. It's a gift."

In Illinois 3,840 people are on the waiting list for kidney donation, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There are several factors that must be completed in organ donation: degree of medical emergency, length of time on the waiting list, tissue match and blood type, according to Transplant Living.

The day-long organ transplant took place at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Friday. After the two recover they want to help find living donors for the some of the 84,000 people suffering from kidney failure, the Tribune reported.

Post by: Sean Stillmaker