Donor: Jaclyn

We were lucky enough to meet donor Jaclyn’s amazing family this evening over dinner. Unfortunately, Dylan’s kids were unable to make it. We wish they could have been there to meet the women who will give their dad life. However, we know there will be many more meetings like this as she is now one of us (whether she likes it or not ).

The Aarons and the McBeths

Jaclyn came into our lives in January with a simple Facebook message asking if Dylan was still in need of a kidney. At the time we were holding another secret… a donor had been found and surgery was scheduled for spring. We encouraged her to continue the process in case another recipient could use this blessing. I (Darcie) reached out to her saying if she did continue I would be happy to share my experience of being a donor and answer any questions she would have.

Fast forward a couple months…Jaclyn reached back out to say she had been approved and wanted to chat. We set up a phone date and she shared with me her reasons for wanting to share her spare (more on that later). She mentioned that Yale hadn’t matched her with anyone just yet and only type O blood was on the recipient list. Dylan is A+ and his first scheduled transplant had been delayed, so he wasn’t even considered for another match. She called Yale the next day and asked about Dylan. Yale called Dylan the day after that to bring him in for some testing.

“Dylan, congratulations you have a donor.” - Yale

And that is how Dylan and Jaclyn became a donor recipient match.