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AUSTIN (KXAN) – Patients in need of a kidney transplant have a 25% chance of finding a perfect match in a sibling. With strangers? This probability is negligible.
It was a shot in the dark that Austin-based Alex Odonnell was going to find a kidney match – even less so in a 500-member community Facebook group.
But for Odonnell, those odds were in his favor.
Odonnell found his perfect partner in a complete stranger through Better Together, an Austin community volunteer and charity group launched in October. Kristen Harris, the organization’s founder, said she was forced to create a space for people to give back and find refuge at a time when many were struggling physically, mentally, and financially.
“It was gradual, but our missions have gradually evolved too,” she said, adding, “We were in the middle of the COVID crisis and saw how many people are traumatized – people who have been in apartments and people who are There is no longer living space and how great the need for support was in their daily life. “
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The organization focused on creating care packages for the homeless in northwest Austin and providing food, first aid kits, and other necessities. On average, the organization supplies around 12 families with food for a week each month and supplies more than 200 homeless people a month.
“We wanted a place on social media where you could come and fill your bucket with positivity and humanity [by] to come together as a group to collect and actually take care of the people, ”she said.
But when it comes to some of those standout moments, Harris said, Odonnell’s journey to finding a kidney like a group member rises to the top.
“Not only did they find a match, they found a perfect match. And then this perfect match came from our group? I mean, it’s a miracle. “
Kristen Harris, Founder of Better Together
Odonnell was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2017 after noticing a swelling in his leg. As a delivery agent at Amazon, he often worked more than 10 miles on his routes every day. Now at the age of 34, he has lost more than 100 pounds, in part on dialysis, and almost died in February when residual fluids filled his lungs and made it difficult to breathe.
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Odonnell’s wife Amber “Olive” Reitz has been documenting his search for a kidney match for months and starts a GoFundMe to settle some of the expenses related to the couple’s trip. Odonnell is currently unemployed due to the intensity and frequency of his dialysis appointments, while Reitz no longer has PTO times to look after him and get him to his appointments.
“It was a real head-turner,” Harris said of Odonnell’s donor prospects. “And to get this message from Olive, you know, a week or so ago, that not only did they find a match, they found a perfect match. And then this perfect match came from our group? I mean, it’s a miracle. “
According to Fresenius Kidney Care, a perfect kidney match depends on three key ingredients: the same tissue type, a compatible blood group and a negative serum crossmatch test or a series of blood tests to monitor the blood and organ interactions between a potential donor and the transplant recipient.
Odonnell’s chances looked bleak, he said. Dialysis is an aggressive and demanding treatment process and is not needed by patients with kidney failure, Odonnell said, but if dialysis is abandoned, patients are admitted to a hospice for terminal care.
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Then came his donor: an anonymous group member who quietly began the donor comparison when Reitz was documenting the course of her husband’s illness.
This weekend, Reitz and Odonnell will meet the donor for the first time before she “shares her reserve” on July 7th, as Reitz calls it.
“I mean, she not only has – she not only said, ‘I’m a perfect partner,’ but she said: ‘You know, we’re going to be a family now,'” said Reitz.
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