One year ago on April 3, 2012, Natasha Coe completed her task of donating her kidney after posting a Facebook status in 2010 asking who might need one.
The death of an ex’s uncle from kidney failure and following research led to Coe’s decision to donate her organ. Sixty-year-old Debbie Will, stepmom of a high school classmate, became the recipient of her left kidney. Coe now sports a tattoo of a kidney and a green ribbon with the date 4/3/2012 on the left side of her back.
“I thought it was unusual someone would do something like this,” Will said, adding that Coe never wavered on her offer once the match was made.
The Office Of Minority Health reports that while 29-percent of all candidates waiting for organ transplants are Black, they made up 14-percent of organ donors in 2012. This proved to be one of the reasons Coe, who is bi-racial, decided to donate and document the process.
“It was kind of shocking,” Coe says. “I didn’t do this for praise. I did it because she needed it.”
The documentary, which is set to run during the Running Rebels Community Organization wellness fair on April 20, is titled, “Does Anybody Need A Kidney?” Watch a clip of it below and read more about it on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
BMWK–Would you be willing to become an organ donor? Do you know someone who has or is in need of one?
