How two women connected over Reddit and shared the most moving journey
Jennifer Moss is one amazing woman—she’s singlehandedly turned Reddit into a virtual platform for helping others. The 33-year-old from Georgia has tapped the site to find people in need; she’s given gas money to a father who can’t afford to take his son on a trip. She’s also sent a produce gift card to a pregnant mother who ran out of food stamps to buy veggies. Um, can you say queen of the year?
“Just because I never met them, doesn’t make them any less in need,” Moss told Time. And she means it, because she’s now giving one of the most precious things she can give: a kidney. Last May, 26-year-old Kayla Davis from South Carolina had been sending out pleas for a kidney donor. Suffering from glomerulonephritis, a kidney disease, since she was 10, Davis had been on dialysis for three years, and she desperately needed a type O match.
Nobody responded to her Facebook post, and her family members weren’t a good match, so Davis tried her luck on Reddit. And within five short hours, Moss had commented, saying, “I am O+ and in Georgia. I will call tomorrow, and see what happens. In the event that I am not the ideal candidate, I hope you find someone who is. Good luck.”
And to everyone’s delight, after testing, it was determined that Moss was a good match, and Moss decided to donate her kidney to Davis without even knowing her. “I have something that the other person needs,” Moss told Time, “and if it’s not going to hurt me, why not?”
For nine months, the dynamic duo got to know each other via Facebook messages. Turns out they’re both the coolest people ever, because they both love corgis (Moss even has a corgi-Jack Russell mix named Conan!) and pizza (which Davis couldn’t eat on dialysis).
Finally, March 26th rolled around, and it was time for surgery, which was immensely successful. Davis posted pictures on Imgur and has been posting updates on Reddit about her recovery. Here she is the day after her transplant:
The pair stuck together during recovery (Moss is on the left):
Four days later, on March 30th, Davis was feeling energized and great. . . and she was able to eat pizza again:
Ah, any story ending in pizza is just the best. We’re wiping our tears away. The Internet can be such a beautiful place, and we love this amazing friendship that saved a life and inspired us big time. <3
