One couple who met on the internet turned out to be more than just a romantic match when they discovered that they were also a donor match when one tragically fell ill.
Dan and Lisa Summers met online.
The Californian couple met on popular online dating service eHarmony. Apparently, Lisa had been trepidatious about meeting someone in person from the site, but the eHarmony service told her to give Dan a shot due to the fact that their compatibility was apparently so high!
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And it looks like the algorithm was right!
The couple massively surpassed whatever the eHarmony boffins had predicted, as they quickly fell in love. The pair could also not have predicted what would happen next, as it became apparent that they really were meant to be together!
Dan tragically fell ill, and was in need of a kidney donor.
Dan’s illness had apparently stemmed from a case of gout which had attacked his body back in his 20s. The doctors had warned him at the time that he may need surgery when he was in his late 40s to 50s; however, the complications came earlier than expected, in his 30s.
“I knew about 10 years ago that there was going to be some trouble sometime in the future. And they thought it was going to be when I was in my 50s or 60s, and it ended up hitting last year,” Dan told CNN .
Thankfully, it turned out that Lisa was a match.
Their doctors have claimed that the odds are around 1 in 100, 000! Lisa explained what it felt like to be able to help out the man she loved:
“It’s like being next to a stranger on a train, matching them and then also falling in love on top of it, you know. There was like this sense that it was going to work.”
The operation was thankfully a success.
Having been carried out on August 22nd, not only was the operation a success, but the donated organ was accepted by Dan’s body.
According to an article in the Stanford Medical Journal , the risk of rejection is quite high: “About 25 percent of kidney recipients and 40 percent of heart recipients experience an episode of acute rejection in the first year after transplant.”
However, things are looking good for Dan.
Lisa explained how much it means to her to see Dan playing with their kids.
Having successfully come through this difficult time, the couple have a new appreciation for the life that they have. Speaking again to CNN, Lisa articulated how much they are cherishing the moment they live in:
“Being able to see him in front of me just holding my son’s hand or when he lifts him or those fun moments. It’s like there’s an extra appreciation to it, that my son gets to have his father growing up, you know.”
Dan also used the platform to raise awareness of the need for organ donors.
There are so many people out there in need of healthy organs, and in light of their struggle, the Summers are doing all they can to advocate for people to donate kidneys. Dan explained the benefits of donating organs as such:
“There’s a shortage of donors that are out there right now and there’s a number of people that are in kidney failure. And dialysis is not a fun thing. On a live donor they can get 10 to 20, sometimes 30 years if the match is really good.”
There has been an increasing coverage of the need for organ donors in recent times.
Back in March of this year, for instance, Chance the Rapper tweeted out an emotional plea to find an organ donor for his aunt, who was in need of a kidney.
Eventually, she did find a donor; however, not everyone is so lucky.
Hopefully, this will inspire people to sign up to donate organs.
The Summers story is an unbelievable one that defies belief, and it also shows how important a kidney donation can be. Thankfully, Dan will now be able to enjoy watching their son grow up with his loving wife.
And, to think that all of this began by signing up for eHarmony! Perhaps Tinder could start doing a service where people match for organs instead of matching for casual hookups!
h/t: CNN
