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A Juab County woman turned to the Internet to try and find a kidney donor, and it worked.
Julie Paystrup is hooked up to a dialysis machine three days a week for four hours at time. She's been put on the national transplant waiting list, which could take up to two years before a donor is found.
Last summer, Julie's daughter, Darcy Ellis, was listening to the Sean Hannity Show. She heard a woman say she was on her way to a hospital to donate a kidney to a man she met online. He had placed an ad looking for possible kidney donors.
That inspired Darcy and Julie to place their own ad on Craigslist and KSL.com classifieds.
Paystrup said, "I just put that I had a kidney disease and that I needed a kidney transplant, if anybody was interested, get back with me."
They received about a dozen responses within two days. One woman in Utah County passed the required tests and is preparing to give Paystrup one of her kidneys. Paystrup says, "I mean, I've already told her a million times she's an angel and that I really appreciate what she is doing."
Paystrup is currently waiting on the donor center to schedule a surgery date. She hopes it will happen within the next two weeks.
E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com
