Local organ donor shares the power of giving the gift of life after donating kidney to friend

A pair of friends from Kitchener, Ont., who went through a lifesaving kidney transplant, are hoping to shed some light on what it is to be a living donor through their perspective.

When Stephanie Davidson learned her friend Tom Kret needed a new kidney, she picked up the phone and never looked back.

“If this really is what needs to happen, then why? Why can’t I try, like I can’t keep sitting and watching these updates and thinking ‘oh boy, hopefully something works out,’ and it’s like, well, I could do something,” Davidson told CTV News.

Travelling from Lakehead University, Davidson underwent a number of checkups and tests.

“She came back on her spring break in February to actually meet with the transplant surgeons because they just want to do their assessment as well and they also want to meet her, so she travelled back and forth from Thunder Bay to Kitchener just to keep up with the appointments,” explained Kret.

Stephanie Davidson and Tom Kret in an undated photograph. (Courtesy: Tom Kret)

Then suddenly, the moment Kret had been dreaming of came to fruition.

“She sent me a message, it said, ‘hey, what are you doing May 22?’ And I replied, ‘question mark, question mark,’ and she said, ‘I’ve been approved!’”

Davidson said Kret was a little shellshocked with the news.

“I was like ‘no, no this is the day, we’re going to do it. we’re going to do it on this date, it’s real,’” she said.

Things moved forward quickly for the duo.

“Once we’ve determined that the donor’s an acceptable donor, that their tissues match, and that they are healthy and once we determine that the recipient is healthy enough to receive a transplant, it can occur within several months,” said Dr. Gerald Rosenstein with Grand River Hospital.

A pair of friends from Kitchener, Ont., who went through a lifesaving kidney transplant, are hoping to shed some light on what it is to be a living donor through their perspective. (Submitted: Tom Kret)

In May 2024, Davidson donated one of her healthy kidneys to her friend. A decision she says she made without hesitation.

“I was discharged two days after the surgery and then got driven home. I’m from Kitchener, so we drove home for a lot of chair time: reading, sitting, the family helped me out, so they’re really great,” said Davidson.

Davidson said the process was quick and essentially seamless with little downtime to recover for a few weeks after the surgery. Now, nearly one year later, she has a clean bill of health from her surgeons.

“You’d never know that I only had one kidney. Everything’s above and beyond perfect,” she said.

For Kret, it’s all about living his new life.

“It really is life changing. Everything changed, my energy is much better, I’m not going to bed at 7 p.m., I can stay up later. It’s these little subtle things that you notice,” he said.

After seeing CTV News Kitchener’s earlier story on local hockey coach Matt Bell, Davidson and Kret reached out to us, hoping to inspire viewers to come forward if they can, to consider giving someone a second chance at life by becoming a living donor.