Laura Hoover's Kidney Donation Fund

On Tuesday December 3rd 2019 at 8am Laura Hoover voluntarily had surgery donating one of her kidneys to a pure stranger!

Ya’ll her story is unbelievable. Laura saw a post on Facebook from one of her friends saying that her mother-in-law, BettyAnn (pictured with Laura), needed a kidney transplant and was looking for a donor. Her story moved Laura so much, Laura flew across the country to get tested and see if by chance she was a match. She learned donating a kidney was not as simple as taking from one and giving to another. In order for BettyAnn to get a kidney transplant BettyAnn needed a live donor to donate on her behalf to a stranger. Without ever meeting her, Laura was determined to help BettyAnn get her kidney, so she signed up with BettyAnn to be a part of a domino donation chain between 10 different hospitals. It has taken several months for the stars to align with keeping all patients healthy enough to receive their kidney at their allotted time, but BettyAnn got her kidney 1 week ago (and is doing GREAT) and Laura’s day is finally here today! Laura will be donating one of her kidneys to a 12-year-old girl in Florida!

Laura is one of the most loving, caring selfless people you'll ever meet. This story is just one of the ways she constantly shows us that. It takes a special person to donate a piece of their body, but Laura does not see her kidney donation as a loss for her. She purely sees it as SAVING A LIFE!

Laura is a nurse and will be out of work at least 8 weeks recovering. Her job has only agreed to pay her 4 weeks of leave which leaves a whole month of paying bills with no income! If you know Laura, you know she would NEVER ask anyone for money, but I know her and Mike are stressed since they are solely relying on her income until Mike can get his business approval in SC.

Prayers are most important, but if you are inspired by Laura’s story and want to help please consider donating to their GoFund page. I cannot imagine a better Christmas present than Laura waking up from surgery   seeing how many people (including strangers!) appreciate her selfless love and generosity for others!

Laura's journey 1st hand:

 “I’ve written this story 100 times, both in my mind and on paper. Yet each time, I seem to fall short when attempting to describe the emotions I felt when I first learned of BettyAnn’s need for a kidney – I’d seen a link on social media shared by my friend, BettyAnn’s daughter-in-law. Or when I try to describe the scene of our first meeting 7 months later in her son and daughter-in-law’s kitchen on Christmas Eve. When I told her that day that I would be a living donor on her behalf in the National Paired Donor Exchange Program, she had no idea who I was. Even BettyAnn’s son didn’t know why I was there when I showed up to their house that day. Up until that moment, I had told only my immediate family that I had been evaluated and approved as a donor. That initial meeting was done under the disguise of delivering holiday baked goods by the way. A cranberry-orange bread that I will now make every Christmas season for as long as I am on this Earth.

We’d face yet more obstacles after that meeting because of accident for which BettyAnn would need surgery to recover, resulting in our duo being temporarily removed from the national database looking for a compatible donor/recipient swap. And again more obstacles when I was forced to take my employer head on fighting for a change in the policy for employees who were living donors to, at the very least, guarantee I’d be guaranteed my job after I’d recovered and was able to go back to work.

There is a theme in these collective drafts. No matter how long or how short, none give justice to the emotions experienced over the last 19 months. None portray the high highs or the low lows, nor any of the moments in between. None explain the daily waiting or the anticipation of lab results and diagnostic tests which would determine our qualification to move forward to the next steps. Certainly, none fully describe the fight that it took to get here.

Yet, here we are. A path which I knew was orchestrated by my creator and beyond my comprehension, only requiring my observation and participation rather than my understanding, led to this. Today we celebrate BettyAnn having one incredible week of life with a new kidney from a living donor. She was discharged 3 days post transplant because she was doing so well! And today, we celebrate the life of 12 year old who will always have a part of this journey in them after receiving my kidney.

I was hesitant to share this journey. Not because I’m not proud of all that I’ve done to get here, but because I never wanted this to be about me. Seeing now the second chance that BettyAnn has been given because of the kindness of a stranger, I feel compelled to advocate for the living donor program.

Without kindness, we have nothing.”