Former Weber State softball pitcher to donate kidney to twin brother


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SALT LAKE CITY — Researchers often suggest that twins have their own language, but soon a pair of twins living in Utah and Idaho will share even more than that.

Jasmine Ioane and her twin brother, Jeremy, grew up in Oahu, Hawaii. Jasmine, older by an hour, said they were always very close and that they grew up playing sports. Consequently, their work paid off and Jasmine received a scholarship to play softball, first at a junior college in Arizona, and then at Weber State University, while Jeremy played football at Boise State University.

“That was our goal,” Jasmine said. “That was what we were working towards — was to play at the college level.”

In 2012, during his sophomore year at Boise State, Jeremy said he underwent a team drug test and his urine was dark, “like Coca-Cola.”

“I thought I was just dehydrated or something,” Jeremy said.

Jeremy said his athletic trainer decided to take the urine sample into a specialist for further testing, and during the summer of 2012, Jeremy was diagnosed with IgA Nephropathy, a disease that damages the filtering units of the kidney, according to the National Kidney Foundation.

Jeremy said he continued playing football, despite undergoing chemotherapy once a month during his sophomore season. During his junior year playing football, he took medication and then began dialysis in 2014 during his senior year.

“In the beginning, it was kind of scary playing and having a catheter tube sticking out in my abdomen area,” Jeremy said. “I had to have it padded and covered up everyday for practice and for games. Doing dialysis, in the beginning, it wasn’t so bad, but as the season went on… it kind of took a toll on my body. I ended up playing as much as I could, and toward the end of the season, I didn’t really play much.”

Jasmine and Jeremy Ioane in their uniforms at Weber State and Boise State. Photo Courtesy: Ioane Family
Jasmine and Jeremy Ioane in their uniforms at Weber State and Boise State. Photo Courtesy: Ioane Family

Jeremy currently does dialysis three days a week, and in February, doctors suggested he get a kidney transplant. Jasmine said as soon as she found out he needed a transplant, she did testing to see if she could donate. In March, she found out she was a match.

“I felt awesome and relieved, knowing that I was going to be able to help my brother,” Jasmine said. “Just seeing him in pain made me want to get him healthy again. It just really sucks seeing what he has to go through and I didn’t want to see him go through that anymore.”

The kidney transplant will take place May 5 at University Hospital in Salt Lake City and Jeremy said he will forever be grateful to his twin sister.

“It means a lot,” he said. “She was there for me from the beginning of life and she’s there for me now in the most important thing going on in my life. She’s there to help and willing to donate her kidney for me.”

Contributing: Mike Headrick

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