Stranger reads blog post, decides to donate a kidney to fellow mom
Three days a week, Boulder resident Shyamlee Pringle would undergo four hours of dialysis to treat her end- stage renal disease while waiting to get on the transplant list.
With friends and family eager to help, Shyamlee’s friend Haddy Jow, an Erie resident, posted about Shyamlee’s need for a kidney on an Erie Colorado Facebook group in June this year.
The post discussed her condition and provided a link to a personal blog created by another of Shyamlee’s friends, Mary Meek, titled, “Kidney for Shyamlee.” Two months later, Shyamlee received a call from her transplant coordinator about a match who was willing to donate.
“I remember it was a Monday when my transplant coordinator called me,” said Shyamlee. “I was driving my daughter home from camp and she told me that we had found a living donor. My six- year- old and I instantly just started crying in the car.”
Shyamlee’s new kidney was donated by Dacono resident Jennifer Weaver who, after reading the post, completed the initial living donor questionnaire that same day. Shyamlee and Weaver had not met prior to this, but Weaver knew she wanted to do something to help.
“After reading her story, I knew that from a mom to a mom if there was a way that I could help that I had to try,” said Weaver. “I have had the gift of health and I just wanted to share that with her so that she can make memories with her family.”
The Kidney for Shyamlee blog was posted in June as an effort to bring awareness to Shyamlee’s condition. Shortly after its creation, Jow didn’t hesitate to post the blog’s link to the Erie page as she wanted Shyamlee to put herself out there.
Shyamlee’s husband, Ari Pringle, said he was confident they would eventually find a living donor for her. He stated it’s been an amazing experience from start to finish.
“We had a ton of support and a number of people had stepped forward to try to be her donor, including myself, but were unable to qualify,” said Ari. “What I didn’t expect is that it would be from someone we didn’t know or seemingly had no direct connections with. I was truly blown away that someone could be so kind- hearted to go through a surgery for someone that they really didn’t know at the time.”
Shyamlee and Weaver went through surgery on Oct. 12 at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora with the surgery taking about four hours, according to Shyamlee.
“I’m sore from the surgical site, but besides that I feel amazing — how I felt three years ago before I had end- stage renal,” said Shyamlee. “It’s amazing how a little organ can make such a big difference in your life.”
Since the transplant, Shyamlee and Weaver have continued to stay in touch with one another. Ari said he’s confident they will stay in close contact with Weaver and her family from here on out.
“I feel like our meeting has been so organic and natural, there was never once that I felt like she was a stranger,” said Shyamlee. “We just started talking and ever since we’ve been in contact. While we both were recovering from our respective surgeries from the hospital, we would actually meet up to take daily walks together and visit one another.”
Shyamlee said she was blown away by Weaver’s generosity and her big heart. Weaver stated while she was a little nervous about the surgery since she’d never had surgery before, she never doubted her choice for a second.
“If I had more kidneys to spare, I would do it again in a heartbeat.” said Weaver. “Shyamlee has already told me in the week since her surgery how her life is changing and how she is able to do more with her daughter. That is all I could have asked for out of this.”