Two retired Air Force veterans who found each other through a Collegeville Bakery Facebook post now share an unbreakable bond after one of them played a critical role in saving the other’s life through kidney donation, writes Stephanie Stahl for CBS News Philadelphia.
When they met for the first time at Penn Medicine, Craig Harris, a transplant patient, and Morgan Slaughter were still strangers.
“I think I cried like a baby; it was awesome meeting her,” said Harris.
The two were brought together after Slaughter saw a Facebook post for Veterans Day that said Harris needed a kidney. The post grabbed her heart.
After doing some investigating and a short conversation, Slaughter decided to donate her kidney to the fellow veteran who had stage 4 kidney failure.
While she was not a full match, through the paired kidney donation and exchange program she donated her kidney to another patient while Harris received a new kidney from a better-matched donor on October 4.
The KPD program increases the number of living kidney donations by matching one pair of incompatible donor and recipient with another. A donor donates their kidney to another recipient in exchange for a compatible kidney for a friend or family member.
Slaughter said that while Harris thinks she saved his life, she is the one who received an incredible new connection.
“Becoming part of their family has filled a void I didn’t know I had,” she said.
Read more about the pair, how were they connected through Collegeville Bakery, and the kidney donation process in CBS News Philadelphia.
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