A stranger.

Right.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I think the coolest part about donating a kidney to a stranger

is I may have absolutely nothing in common with my recipient.

Organ transplants cross racial divides, social divides,

political divides.

It's such a visceral reminder of how we really are completely

the same.

That is a gift.

My name's Hendrik Gerrits.

In a week and a half, I'm going to be giving my kidney

to a complete stranger.

I'm 37.

I'm a long distance runner, a recent rock climber,

and the father of two beautiful girls.

My wife, Lumin, is a painter.

I've lived in two places in my life, Wyoming and New York.

I just remember traveling home on the subway.

I, probably like a lot of Americans,

was getting pretty overwhelmed with the news.

And I just felt like I was in this rut.

And I heard this amazing story from this woman

Christine Gentry on one of my favorite podcasts called Risk!

And she found out that by donating her kidney,

she could set off a chain of donations.

And I just remember it was one of those crying-on-the-subway

moments as you heard this story.

I was overwhelmed by the power of the story

but also just immediately felt like, that's my thing.

I knew I could do it.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

We are eight days away from my operation,

and I'm here to meet for the first time

with Dr. Del Pizzo, who will be my surgeon.

I'm really excited about that.

I am trying to imagine that this is something like a race day

scenario.

I need to be able to visualize what

it's going to be like, what the recovery is going to be like.

But I feel like I'm going in to meet with my coach.

Hi, how are you?

Dr. Del Pizzo.

Joe Del Pizzo, good to see you.

Nice to meet you.

Welcome.

Thanks.

Have a seat.

Thanks

I have a couple of questions for you.

OK.

You're donating your kidney to--

--a stranger.

Right.

So you're an altruistic donor.

So thank you for doing that.

Yeah.

We are going to use your left kidney for the donation.

OK.

Your left kidney.

OK.

Both of your kidneys work exactly the same.

Your body's not going to miss one more than the other.

OK.

And the surgery is done through one little incision

in your belly button.

It's called laparoendoscopic single-site surgery.

Your body won't recognize that you have one kidney versus two.

OK.

And it won't adversely affect the rest of your life

in any way.

If it did, we wouldn't let you or anyone else

donate their kidney.

Yeah.

You're not only helping the person who's

getting your kidney on the 19th, but that person

is going to come off the list of people waiting

for a kidney in the country, and everyone else on the list

is going to move up.

Yeah.

So you are helping thousands of people.

So you're already part of a huge team.

Yeah.

OK.

All right?

Well, thanks so much.

Good to meet you.

Looking forward to it.

Thanks again for everything, OK?

Yeah, OK.

I'll see you soon.

OK, see you.

A non-directed kidney donor is someone like myself

who just wants to help someone in need.

The power of that gift is that I'm giving a kidney,

but don't need a kidney in return.

And what that can do is unlock all of this potential

in the paired donor exchange.

So there are all of these pairs floating out there,

but the difficulty is matching them up.

I found out that they found my match,

and she's a 20-year-old woman who lives on the East Coast.

And it's just very overwhelming.

As an non-directed donor you very much

have to be prepared to not meet your recipient.

I can only imagine the difficulties

that she must be going through now.

Not only that, but she has a hero in her own life

who's donating a kidney on her behalf

so that she can receive my kidney.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Dialysis is not an easy thing for sure.

You're very tired, lethargic all the time.

It does take a toll.

Just, you're so tired.

So I hook up to this every night for nine, nine and half hours

a night.

My name is Kali, I'm 21 years old.

Depending on what time she has to leave in the morning

is what time she has to hook up at night.

At six months old, my doctor diagnosed me

with nephrotic syndrome.

And at five years old, I ended up on dialysis.

And at six years old, I received a kidney transplant

from a deceased donor.

In February 2017, they started to realize

my kidney was rejecting.

By October, I was back on dialysis.

I had to put my dreams on hold and I

had to stop going to school.

They said that it was going to be a pretty hard match.

On a scale of 0 to 100 antibody scale, with 100

being you're a really hard match, they said I was 99.

The doctors told me I should definitely share my story

to just get the word out.

And see if there are people that would want to be a donor.

Tracy, my friend of five years, came forward.

I stepped forward to become a donor

so that I could try to help Kali and give her the life

that she deserves.

Even though I'm not a direct match for Kali,

I am a match for somebody out there.

Hendrik is giving his kidney to Kali,

and Tracy, who really wanted to give her

a kidney but wasn't a match, gave it to someone else.

And if that person who got a kidney also

has someone who is willing to donate for them,

there's another kidney that's still out there

that goes to another person.

And that's how a chain develops.

So this kind of pay it forward mentality.

It's a win-win situation, because by stepping forward

as a donor, I'm able to help Kali.

And at that same time, I'm helping a complete stranger

who's also in dire need of a kidney.

Tomorrow I'll be receiving a kidney

from a complete stranger.

I'm so grateful.

I just can't wait.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

It is November 19, it's about 7:00 AM.

And I'm about to donate my left kidney.

This is Urethra Franklin The Second,

who's named after Christine Gentry's kidney, who's

the woman who inspired my story.

I really hope that this kidney goes

on to a very fruitful life for a long time.

So--

I think that 15 minute period right beforehand

is kind of the scariest moment.

Because the reality of the situation sets in.

But then I felt a sense of calm.

And I felt like I'd prepared myself for some

of those nerves and fear.

20 years ago, in order to donate your kidney,

you had to have a major operation.

The whole point of developing the minimally invasive

technique, which we've taken a step further

at NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell,

was to decrease the disincentives

for healthy people to donate their kidney.

You guys ready to do a surgical time out?

You make a 3 inch incision in the bellybutton area.

Starting--

And through that incision goes a small device

where you can put instruments through.

And one of those instruments is a camera

that then projects onto a large high-definition screen.

You basically remove the kidney from all its attachments

except for the blood supply and the ureter, which

is the small tube that carries urine from your kidney

down to your bladder.

Unbeknownst to Hendrik, Kali was getting her transplant

in the next room.

And Tracy was in the hospital as well.

There were basically three simultaneous surgeries

going on.

Hendrik's kidney was removed, then

that was taken across and given to Dr. Sultan.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

He starts the recipient surgery, and I'm back in Hendrik's room

finishing up the surgery.

The third surgery that day was when Tracy's kidney

was harvested and was safely and successfully

removed to be flown to another hospital in the country

to use in another recipient as part of the paired exchange.

When I woke up from anesthesia, groggily I

remember my mom and my wife's face.

And they said everything had gone well, but even better,

they said that my recipient was at the hospital.

And that she really wanted to meet me.

It was incredibly emotional.

I was very excited.

It was a dream scenario, really.

Hi.

[PIANO MUSIC]

How are you?

Really good.

[LAUGHTER]

I have a letter for you.

Yeah?

Yeah.

Did you get my letter?

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah, read it after I was conscious that day, so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You feeling good?

Feeling better?

Really good.

Great.

Really good.

I took good care of it, it's a good kidney.

They said it took so quick.

Never seen--

Good.

--a kidney work so quick.

Good.

Yeah.

That's great.

So.

I'm so happy for you.

Sounds like you got so much in front of you.

Yeah.

And my--

Got a whole new life.

Yeah.

Because I was on the deceased donor

list at my local hospital, and they said

it was going to be at least six to seven years.

Whoa.

So--

That's too long.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I mean, we don't even know how--

Yeah.

--to thank you.

Yeah.

It's just been a really long journey.

I bet.

Yeah, the number one thing is freedom.

I'm going to have more freedom.

I was completely overwhelmed.

And I think unprepared for the feeling

of meeting a complete stranger with whom you feel

such a visceral connection.

I didn't know the first thing about her,