Woman checks off ‘save a man’s life’ on her kindness bucket list
A random act of kindness can literally save someone’s life. That’s we’ve been taught by the story of two total strangers who became friends because of a serious act of kindness.
Just months ago, 65-year-old Avram Gabay from Long Island was given news that no one should ever have to hear: he has stage 5 kidney disease, and he must endure dialysis treatment three hours a day, three days a week. The only cure, doctors told Avram, was a kidney transplant. Though his family searched high and low for a donor, combing through the Internet and making phone calls tirelessly, it took two full years to find a donor.
Enter Jennifer Wolfe is from Porterdale, Georgia. Two years ago, Jennifer started the Facebook group, Luv-Rak, to help those in need—inspired by her own kindness hero, Ellen DeGeneres. “Our goal is to inspire others to perform random acts of kindness and pay it forward,” the group’s Facebook page reads. Jennifer’s group has sent flowers to hospice workers, formula to new mothers, banana bread to the local fire and police department. But perhaps the biggest act of kindness was one Jennifer undertook herself: donating her kidney to a total stranger.
It began in April, when Jennifer stumbled on a Facebook page by Avram’s family, Kidney for Aba, and registered on MatchingDonors.com.
When Avram’s son, Brian, sent Jennifer an email telling her she’s a match and pleading that she consider donation, she didn’t even hesitate. “I immediately fell in love with the Gabay family,” she told PIX11. “They are my family.”
Brian posted a video of the first time the Gabay family met Jennifer — less than a week before the transplant. And it’s absolutely bursting our hearts. When the Gabay family and Jennifer see each other, everyone dissolves into a puddle of tears. “Jennifer, thank you very much, I love you,” Avram says in the video, laying in a hospital bed before the transplant. “Thank you, you saved my life, Jennifer.”
On June 3rd, the kidney transplant was a success. Avram has not only found a kidney from the experience, but a new friend — the two text almost daily and speak on the phone every week. In the next several months, Avram even plans on visiting Jennifer in Georgia. “She’s like my daughter,” he told PIX11. “I love her and she loves us and I can’t wait to see her again.”
Watch the full video below describing the experience, and be prepared with a box of tissues. It’s absolutely beautiful to see the pure glee and gratitude on the faces of the Gabay family after seeing the woman who will save their father’s life, as well as the pure happiness on Jennifer’s face at being given the opportunity to conduct the greatest random act of kindness. What a beautiful world we live in.
(Images via Youtube)
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