Eight-year- old Jo- Jo helped save his mom’s life when he found a kidney donor by using Facebook
When Denice Ruth needed a new kidney to live, her 8-year- old son, Jo- Jo, was determined to help her find one. So when she decided to make a plea for a donor on Facebook, Jo- Jo helped her create a post that touched hearts— and ended up saving her life!
Jo-jo Ruth hopped out of the car. “You coming, Mom?” the Kutztown, Pennsylvania, 8-year-old asked as he grabbed his football gear. “I’ll just wait here,” Denice Ruth sighed, too tired to drag herself to the bleachers to watch her son’s game.
Just a year earlier, Denice had been enthusiastically coaching Jo-jo’s flag football team. But one afternoon, she’d begun having trouble breathing, and, after being taken to the hospital, tests revealed frightening news.
“Your kidneys are failing,” doctors somberly told her. Denice had feared this day would come. She’d inherited polycystic kidney disease from her dad, who had lost his life to the disease at 51—the same age she’d turned on her last birthday. What if I die too? she panicked. Her older son, Callaghan, and her stepdaughter, Jocelyn, were grown up. But little Jo-jo…
I can’t let him grow up without his mom! Denice resolved. I won’t give up!
SEARCHING FOR HOPE
After meeting with nephrologists at Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Denice was placed on the transplant list. “But it could take up to 10 years to find a match,” doctors warned, and they urged her to begin searching for a living donor.
Her husband, Joe, Callaghan and Jocelyn were all tested to donate, but each was ruled out. And Denice didn’t know how she could possibly ask anyone else. But when she grew too weak to care for Jo-jo, she realized
she had no choice and sat down to write a plea for a living donor on Facebook. “You should add a picture of you and Jo-jo to the post,” Joe suggested.
“I know exactly which one,” chimed Jo-jo, who they hadn’t realized was listening. Taking the computer mouse, he called up his favorite photo of him with his mom, snapped at a Kiss concert they’d attended together.
And he knew just what to write: My mom needs a kidney to live. Please be her living donor.
The post touched hearts as Denice’s Facebook lit up with prayers of support— and offers to be tested. But as weeks turned into months, no one matched, and Denice grew weaker and weaker.
Her post, though, was still going strong, as friends continued to share it. And one morning, it popped up on recently retired Wendy Shaylor’s computer screen in Shillington, Pennsylvania. Wendy didn’t know Denice, but she did know the fear of losing a loved one. Five years earlier, her niece Rachel developed leukemia…and a bone marrow transplant saved her life. And as Wendy gazed at the picture of Jo-jo with his mom, her heart squeezed. That little boy needs his mom, she thought.
AN AMAZING GIFT
Wendy began the testing process and was overjoyed when she learned she was a match. And when Wendy told Denice, she was so overwhelmed that she could barely speak. Denise only sobbed with joy. Soon after, the two women shared a tear-filled hug before the surgery, which was a huge success. A few days later, Wendy ran into Jo-jo in the hall at the hospital. “Are you the woman who saved my mom?” he asked, and when Wendy nodded, he hugged her tightly. Today, four months later, Denice is back to being Jo-jo’s active mom. “Wendy gave my life and family back to me,” Denice beams. “She gave me back to my family.” “I don’t feel like a hero,” Wendy says. “The way I see it, God gave us each an extra kidney. So He gave me the ability to help, and I was so happy to do it.”
“God gave each of us an extra kidney— He gave me the ability to help,” says Wendy