This South Jersey woman donated a kidney to a stranger for her 28th birthday
Lauren Sheppard, who grew up in Gloucester County, N.J., was determined to donate her kidney to a stranger. Her parents initially reacted, 'Whoa, what?' But they came around.
Lauren Sheppard decided to perform “28 acts of kindness” for her 28th birthday. She paid for the customer behind her at the Dunkin’ drive-through, left flowers at neighbors’ doorsteps, and wrote heartfelt cards to friends.
And, she donated a kidney to a stranger.
“It was a no-brainer,” Sheppard said. “I don’t need it. Somebody else does. I’m going to give this away.”
Sheppard is one of only 300 people nationwide who donate a kidney to a stranger in a typical year.
Humans have two kidneys but can live active, healthy lives with just one. Sheppard had thought all kidney donations came from deceased people. Then she saw a news story about living donors. She found a Facebook group where people in need of kidneys posted their stories, and it touched her. A day later, she called the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to start the required medical workup.
» READ MORE: Thinking of donating a kidney? Here’s what to expect.
Family history of generosity
Sheppard, now 38, grew up in Washington Township, N.J., the daughter of a homemaker and U.S. Postal worker. Her parents taught her generosity by their example. Her father often volunteered at a soup kitchen. Her mother provided Christmas dinner and presents to families who couldn’t afford to celebrate.
At first, they reacted with trepidation to her decision to donate a kidney.
“There was a lot of, ‘Whoa. What? Why would you do that,’” Sheppard recalled, adding that it didn’t take long for them to embrace her choice.
“I think they all just realized that it was something that was important to me,” she said, “and I was going to do it with or without their help.”
At the time, she lived at home, with family to care for her as she recovered from surgery, and she had no kids. She was in between jobs, collecting unemployment after being laid off.
She never worried about her own health being adversely affected. “I had so much faith that doctors wouldn’t perform the surgery if they didn’t think my body could handle it,” she recalled.
“It’s insane that you just have an organ removed, and it’s put in somebody else’s body ― and it just works,” she said.
» READ MORE: It’s illegal to pay people for organs, but some advocates want a $50,000 tax credit for kidneys
A donor chain
Qualifying to donate involved six months of physical and mental evaluations.
Then, her kidney was used to start a donor chain. She gave her left kidney to a Pittsburgh man, whose wife wanted to donate but wasn’t a match. The wife donated her kidney to a stranger with whom she had matched and so on.
In all, four people received kidneys that day, Sheppard said.
She knew nothing about the man she donated to. About five months after the surgery, he reached out to her on Facebook. On the two-year anniversary of their respective surgeries, they met for the first time at the Spaghetti Warehouse near his home.
“I love Hallmark movies and I’m really corny, so I pictured this really dramatic, crying moment,” Sheppard said. “It was not like that at all. It was pretty awkward.”
But they stayed in touch. In the 10 years since, the nearly 70-year-old kidney recipient has seen his daughters get married and now enjoys grandkids. In 2019, he and his wife attended Sheppard’s wedding.
Sheppard’s new husband made a toast, “Lauren is the kind of person who will give you the shirt off of her back — or the kidney out of her body,” she recalled him telling guests who erupted in laughter.