Patient Grant Helps Altruistic Living Donor

Facebook connects living donor with sick Sebring woman

There amid all the causes, cat videos and Candy Crush found on a Facebook feed, a Pennsylvania woman heard a cry for help.

Five months later, 29-year-old Michelle Zipp of New Paris boarded a plane for Tampa and donated a kidney to a Sebring woman she had never heard of before the social media post — a friend of her boyfriend’s cousin.

The recipient, Shirley Di Simone, had seen her kidney function decline to about 5 percent by the time of the operation. Within two days after the Aug. 27 procedure, Di Simone was at 100 percent.

Michelle said the decision to become a living donor was an easy one for her. Michelle received a Patient Assistance Grant from the American Transplant Foundation to help her with her lost wages during travel and recovery from donor surgery.

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