Woman uses Facebook to find kidney donor

DRACUT, Mass. ?

Shannon Gouveia had never even heard of live kidney donation, but when she discovered the Facebook page of a stranger who needed a kidney, she felt compelled to give.

As soon as Gouveia read Olga Gauthier's story on Facebook and started looking into live kidney donation, she had a feeling she was meant to be a donor for Gauthier.

"I can't even explain it, it just felt so right," she said in an interview at Gauthier's home in Dracut last month.

When Gouveia went to get tested to see if she was a match for Gauthier, there were other people ahead of her being tested.

"I thought that's fine, because I knew it's going to be me." said Gouveia.

Gauthier, who has polycystic kidney disease, or PKD, needed a new kidney and was looking for a live donor. She had been put on the transplant list in June 2010.

None of her family or friends were a match and she was desperate to find a donor. She had heard about other people who were looking for donors who started a Facebook page, so in January, she started the page, "Kidney for Olga."

"I was waiting for nothing, so I had to take matters into my own hands," she said.

Gouveia's sister saw Gauthier's page through a friend of hers and sent the page to Gouveia.

Source: http://www.wcvb.com/health/Dracut-woman-uses-Facebook-to-find-kidney-donor/-/9848730/17704278/-/5qi9t7/-/index.html?absolute=true

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