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How A Woman Saved A Stranger's Life

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) -- When Jane Beckman read an article about a man donating a kidney to a stranger, she decided that she should do the same.

"So that is when I was sitting at the kitchen and thought, 'wow, I can do this," Beckman says.

She then started making calls and doctors' visits before finding out from St. Louis University (SLU) Hospital that there was a man, who she matched, who needed a kidney.

That man was Jack Martin, who had been on the kidney transplant list for three years and was on dialysis almost 12-hours a day.

"When you get a live donor, you can't ask for more than that," Martin said.

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How a woman saved a stranger's life (Source: KMOV)

When comes to numbers, a kidney is the most-needed organ. Across the country, 95,000 people are on the kidney transplant list. Around 1,600 are in need in Missouri, 3,400 in Illinois, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

Jack's wife Jennifer knows how serious kidney disease can since Jack lost his father to the ailment.

"It just meant I get to keep my husband a lot longer than without it. We've been together since I was 16 and I'm 57," said Jennifer.

Both Jack and Beckman had their surgeries done at SLU Hospital at the end of May. They met for the first this summer.

"We are so appreciative of you, you are the vessel God brought us to carry that kidney," Jack said to Beckman at the meeting.

That gratitude prompted Jennifer to donate her kidney for a stranger.

The Martins and Beckmans are encouraging those who can be organ donors.

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