Tiktok video helps find a kidney donor
Nearly a year after her kidneys went into failure, Katie Hallum was waiting for a new organ while undergoing dialysis, when the Oklahoma native posted a Tiktok in July 2022.
“POV: I overhear you say you have an O blood type and healthy kidneys,” the caption read. Then, Hallum lip-synched a line from The Mandalorian: “You have something I want.”
More than 300 miles (480 km) away in Kansas, the Tiktok appeared on Savannah Stallbaumer’s “For You” feed. Stallbaumer, a licensed practical nurse, had seen patients struggling with dialysis, and she wanted to help.
“How do I get tested?” Stallbaumer commented.
In August, Stallbaumer donated her left kidney to Hallum after they had met in person only a few times.
Hallum, 21, said she has almost fully recovered as she reaches the midway point of her senior year at the University of Oklahoma, where she’s studying journalism and international security. She and Stallbaumer, 22, have become close friends.
“Having the kidney in her is like an unbreakable bond,” Stallbaumer told The Washington Post. “That’s kind of weird to say, but she has a piece of my body in her body.”
“I’m like five per cent Savannah now,” Hallum added.
Hallum was diagnosed in 2020, with IGA nephropathy, a disease that occurs when antibodies accumulate in the kidneys, damaging them in the process. In September 2021, doctors told her, her kidneys had failed but could still recover. Two months later, however, Hallum suffered another seizure and would need dialysis treatment to survive.
The wait time for a new kidney was between two to five years. Hallum nightly connected a tube from her dialysis machine to her abdomen.
When Stallbaumer drove four hours from her home in Silver Lake, Kan., to Tulsa for exams in April, she met Hallum for the first time at a Mexican restaurant. Over rice and beans, the two learned about each other, discussing everything from their romantic relationships to their favourite foods. Later that month, Stallbaumer learned that she and Hallum had matched for a transplant.
Stallbaumer, who had recently graduated from the Washburn Institute of Technology in Topeka, Kan., said doctors asked her dozens of questions to ensure she was committed to donating the organ: What if you need the kidney in the future? Would you regret it if you went into kidney failure? What if Katie’s body rejects the kidney right away?
On Aug. 16, the night before the surgery, Stallbaumer drove to Tulsa and planned to drop off a care package at Hallum’s Airbnb. The two ended up talking most of the night.
The next morning, Stallbaumer was being rolled into surgery when Hallum told her again that she didn’t need to go through with the procedure.
“I’m too drugged to back out now,” Stallbaumer joked.
Hallum said she would probably still be waiting for a kidney if Stallbaumer didn’t volunteer.
“I do not know if words would ever fully describe how appreciative I am of Savannah,” Hallum said.