December 01, 2015
A misplaced Craigslist ad brought two New Jersey strangers together, and now, on Giving Tuesday, they are scheduled to undergo a lifesaving transplant.
Glenn Calderbank, who lost his first wife to kidney failure several years ago, came across an ad requesting the donation of a healthy kidney while searching the construction supplies listings, NJ.com reports.
Nina Saria, of Egg Harbor City, has been on the donation list at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital since she was put on dialysis more than a year ago. Unable to find a match or willing donor, her husband decided to put a call for help out on Craigslist.
Calderbank said the ad especially caught his attention because he had run something similar in the local newspaper for his wife, as he was not a match for her.
"It was like the screen was talking to me," he told NJ.com. "I knew I was going to be a match for her. I thought about it, then emailed them and shared my story."
As it turns out, Calderbank is a match for Saria.
Saria started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to help Calderbank through the entire process. She was able to raise more than $14,500 in one month.
"Not a lot of people know much about kidney donation," Saria told NJ.com. "I really wanted people to know that he was a stranger from Craig's List and now we're friends. People can't believe how someone can be so nice and brave. So, I think we need to spread the word around that donating a kidney is not deadly and maybe we can save more people who are on dialysis like me."
The surgery is scheduled for Tuesday at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital.
Read more from NJ.com here.
