A woman donated her kidney to a total stranger and they are now engaged after he proposed on Christmas Day. Ashley McIntyre, 25, discovered Danny Robinson, 25, was on dialysis treatment and was in need of an organ donor.
She turned out to be the the perfect match in more ways than one. Speaking to the USA Today, she said: 'I never in a million years imagined this would happen...it was a whirlwind. It's crazy how it all worked. It was all planned out by God.'
She added: 'I know being a living organ donor is not possible for a lot of people. But it's something to just think about.
'It's just kind of a human thing, something (to) do for another person that could change their life.'
Danny's mother, Denise Stutzenberger, says even before she met Ashley, she was convinced her son would end up marrying her.
'I told her, "You are going to be my daughter-in-law, you just don't know it yet,"' she said. 'I don't know how to explain it. Something in me told me.'
Their story is also highly unusual for the fact only one per cent of living kidney donations are from strangers.
Overall in Kentucky last year, there were 135 kidney transplants, 33 involving living donors - so the couple's transplant was likely to have been one of the only live donations between strangers across the state.
Miss McIntyre first found out about Mr Robinson from her mother, Kim, who heard his mother talking about his need for a kidney on a radio show.
He had been diagnosed at 16 with IgA nephropathy, which occurs when an antibody lodges in the kidneys, causing inflammation that gradually damages kidney function.
Family members offered to donate their kidneys but no one matched and so he spent two years on the transplant waiting list.
She then underwent a series of tests and found they matched perfectly.
When the procedure was 'almost set in stone', the two families agreed to meet at a Cheesecake Factory restaurant and they 'all clicked immediately'.
Following that, Miss McIntyre and Mr Robinson, who are both from Louisville, Kentucky, chatted on the phone and regularly exchanged messages.
Then in April she underwent the operations which went smoothly. It left her with one kidney and him with three — his two non-functional ones and hers working beside them.
When the two were discharged from hospital, they remained close and started a romantic relationship after a Memorial Day family barbecue.
On Christmas Day, he proposed and she accepted. The two are now expecting a baby in June and are hoping to buy their own place.
'It still doesn't register to me,' Miss McIntyre said. 'Before all of this [attention], we don't really think about our situation. We just live our daily lives. So to relive it all is kind of surreal, but it's awesome.' (Dailymail)
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