This story originally appeared on the In the Loop blog.
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In the Loop: Man receives kidney from acquaintance and both share a message
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Last year, Jimmy Warren was surprised to learn he would need a kidney transplant. His wife shared the news on Facebook, and before long an acquaintance offered to give Jimmy the gift of life.
Last January, Jimmy Warren had what he thought was going to be a routine physical. The next morning, he received a call from his doctor's office. "They told me to go to the emergency department," Jimmy tells us. There, he learned he had end-stage renal disease. He was "shocked" by the diagnosis. "I'd had no symptoms, other than what I thought was normal tiredness now and then," he says. "I'd never even been in the hospital before." Just a few days later, he started dialysis and began what he was told would likely be a three-to-five-year wait for a kidney transplant.
That timeline changed dramatically after Jimmy's wife, Shakira, shared the news — and his need for a new kidney — on Facebook. Samantha McAnally, who knew the Warrens through their daughters' cheerleading team, saw the post and soon made an extraordinary offer. She wanted to donate one of her kidneys to Jimmy. "I kept feeling a little nudge," Samantha tells us. "My personal belief is that it was God. I heard a little voice telling me to help." Read the rest of their story.
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