News Anchor Donates Kidney to Stranger After Their Five-Year Wait for a New Organ

A local Michigan news anchor made one stranger’s holiday extra special after their story and desperate need for a new kidney. According to the New York Post, Teresa Weakley with WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, Michigan made the decision to help Jennifer VanderPoel by donating her kidney to the mother of one.

VanderPoel has had six potential donors fall through across five years. Her chronic kidney disease required dialysis three times per week and forced her to step away from her role as an assistant professor.

“I’ve just exhausted the people that we know and are willing to donate,” the 49-year-old told WOOD-TV in an interview. “I’m just trying to maintain my faith, that everything happens for a reason. But on the other hand, you know, every year it looks bleaker and bleaker, right?”

Weakley learned of the search and actually learned of the story separate from her role as co-host on WOOD-TV’s Daybreak morning show.

“I trust those feelings,” Weakley said. “When I get an idea in my head, I usually just do it. You can ask (my husband). It’s probably very frustrating sometimes.”

The news anchor revealed that VanderPoel’s donor search web page cemented her decision.

“I’m a wife, mother, daughter, friend, and like you, I’m many other things in this crazy, beautiful life,” VanderPoel wrote. “I very much want to be here for my daughter, to see her graduate, to see her go to college and fulfill her dreams.”

“The barrier is always, ‘Oh, I’m not a match,’” Weakley added. “(But) you don’t have to be. You can donate for someone without donating to them, and if more people knew that it might change things for people who need kidneys.”

VanderPoel was emotional after finding out the news from the station and learning Weakley had just undergone the surgical procedure.

“You should have told me to have Kleenexes out here! Is she okay?” VanderPoel responded. “I really can’t put into words how thankful I am for this gift of life, and for giving me the chance to be a wife and a partner and, most importantly, a mother again…Words will never express how meaningful, how thankful I am for this gift of life. This opportunity to have a life again, to live.”