That's Pretty Damn Cool

WOOD (Grand Rapids) Anchor Teresa Weakley did something that most people would never do.

Weekly to donate her kidney to a stranger after learning that a mother of one had six potential donors fall through over the past five

Weakley donated a kidney to help Jennifer VanderPoel.

I’ve just exhausted the people that we know and are willing to donate,” VanderPoel said in an interview that aired on WOOD’s news.

When Weakley heard the story, she said she had an intuition that she needed to do something about it “I trust those feelings,” Weakley said. “When I get an idea in my head, I usually just do it. You can ask (my husband). It’s probably very frustrating sometimes.”

But, when Weakley went for an evaluation at the local kidney transplant center in Grand Rapids, where she was told she wasn’t a good match for VanderPoel.

But she learned that the kidney transfer center participated in a voucher program that allows anyone to donate a kidney that would be matched with a better-suited recipient listed in the nationwide database.

So Weakley’s kidney would go to a complete stranger somewhere in the US. In return, VanderPoel would receive a voucher good for a kidney from another stranger who’s a better match for her.

When Vanderpoel learned what Weakley had done, she broke down in tears. “I really can’t put into words how thankful I am for this gift of life, and for giving me the chance to be a wife and a partner and, most importantly, a mother again,” VanderPoel said. “Words will never express how meaningful, how thankful I am for this gift of life. This opportunity to have a life again, to live.”

A pretty damn cool Christmas story, if you ask me.