kidney donation

Xochie Aranda was a single mother in her 30s when she first learned that she had polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder that is the fourth-leading cause of kidney failure in the U.S. She was placed on the national transplant waiting list for a kidney and received a transplant in 2014.

Donna Kapala never expected to be a complete match but, after a series of tests, she learned that one of her kidneys could save the life of someone she met 41 years prior on a teaching assignment to Australia. Her friend Sheila Hoban, one of the “six amigas,” was on the national waiting list and thanks to Kapala’s life-saving gift, she is alive and healthy today.