1 kidney donation bonds 2 strangers forever in gift of life as they meet for the first time

Chris O'Connell
·3 min read

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA - Two strangers became bonded for life over a kidney transplant for the first time at the Phillies game Thursday night.

Being a VIP guest on the field at Citizen’s Bank Park actually wasn’t the biggest highlight of the night for longtime Phillies fan Joe Demayo. It was meeting Marybeth Foster for the first time.

The 44-year-old from the Somerton section of Northeast Philadelphia is living with one of Marybeth’s transplanted kidneys. The Maryland woman donated one of her kidneys after she got sick with Nutcracker’s Syndrome, a rare renal condition that forced her to remove her healthy organ. Her kidney was donated to Joe in a transplant done at Temple University Hospital.

"It’s crazy to think that something that was killing me can almost save someone else. And when I found out I can heal someone, I didn’t take a step back" said Foster.

During the pregame activities, Joe became another recipient, this time of a ceremonial first pitch thrown by his kidney donor. Foster and Demayo were invited to the Phillies-Pirates game on National Living Donor Day.

It was DeMayo’s second kidney transplant. His first donated by his wife in 2013. 10 years later, he needed another after an acute illness. And he got it, thanks to a stranger.

"Thank you. I said I don’t think I could say it enough. It changed everything" Demayo said to Foster as they met for the first time.

The goal Thursday night was to spread the lifesaving organ donation story to the 33,000 fans at the game.

"When you talk to living donors, they say it changes their lives for the better. Because they never feel more connected to another human being than when they step forward and give a piece of themselves to save someone’s life" said David Galvenski, co-founder of Living Liver Foundation, a group raising awareness for living organ donations.

With a new kidney, Demayo says he can now play with his 5-year-old son, walk his dog and go to a Phillies game. Ordinary things thanks to an extraordinary person like his donor. Foster says she would encourage anyone to look into becoming a living donor.

"I can’t imagine someone waiting for their healing. Like, I can still live but someone might not be able to live another day" Foster said.

Although Thursday night was their first official meeting, Joe and Marybeth learned they were sitting across from each other in the hospital waiting room before their transplants and they never even knew it. Now they are bonded for life.

Right now there are about 100,000 people in the United States waiting for kidney or liver transplant.

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