WEST KELOWNA – An Okanagan woman saw her good friend from Alberta for the first time in eight months on Monday; but, it was more than just a reunion of two good friends. It was a woman that could have died, embracing the woman who saved her life.
“My life was on hold for nine years,” says Leona Godin.
That’s how long Godin waited for a donor kidney that matched her blood type after diabetes destroyed her kidneys. It was a long and painful wait; one Godin says she didn’t think would ever come to a happy end.
“My odds were one in ten million to find a kidney with my high antibodies and my rare blood type,” says Godin.
In February of 2014, Global Okanagan did a story about Godin’s plea to find a kidney.
READ MORE: West Kelowna woman turns to Facebook to help find kidney
It was that story that pulled on the heart strings of Kathy Grant. The Edmonton resident was a stranger to Godin at the time but she happened to be the right blood type.
“I saw her story and I thought well someone needs to kick that woman a kidney,” says Grant.
“We were both B positive so I thought I would donate.”
Exactly a year later, that’s what happened.
“On February 2, 2014 I went on Global looking for a kidney and February 2, 2015 I had my transplant,” says Godin.
“When Kathy found me, we won the lottery.”
So why would a complete stranger, who has four kids of her own to look after, undergo serious surgery for a stranger?
“I just had a lot of compassion for her,” says Grant.
“I just couldn’t imagine going through what she did.”
Godin’s fiancé, Rick Moodie tirelessly committed to trying to find a donor. Moodie took to Facebook where he and Godin created a Facebook page that is now aimed at helping others who are in the same plight they were in for nearly a decade.
“I’ve encouraged people to come onto our group and I’m trying to find kidneys for other people as well now that we’ve got ours,” says Moodie.
And now, the couple can fulfill another dream.
“Now that she has the kidney, it’s going to make a big difference. We’ll be able to travel and go to Hawaii and get married,” says Moodie.
It has been eight months since the transplant surgery and both the donor and the recipient have been in good health since.
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