'Life is really starting': 5-year-old girl from Baltimore finds kidney donor after radio segment
A 5-year-old girl from Baltimore has a new shot at living a healthy life, all thanks to a radio segment on Baltimore station 98 Rock and a generous listener.
Baltimore sister station WBAL first met Lucy Helmlinger after seeing videos about her story on the social media. Helmlinger had end-stage renal failure and desperately needed a kidney.
When WBAL , she had already been through seven surgeries, and without a transplant, she would have soon needed dialysis.
Justin, Scott and Spiegel invited Helmlinger and her mom, Nicole Zais, onto their on 98 Rock to plead for a donor. A listener heard their story and stepped up to help.
"I think just hearing Nicole," said Meghan Goodman. "I also have two little boys. Thinking about if they needed something, if they were sick, and I've never had to experience a chronically ill child the way that she has, I just thought, 'Why couldn't I help?'"
"When I got the call a few months later saying that they had found a match, which is Meghan's match, I just knew right then and there in my chest, in my heart, that this was it," Zais said.
Goodman and Helmlinger went through the kidney transplant procedure in March. Now, she has a new kidney.
"My old kidney is called poor kidney," said Helmlinger, who named her new kidney, "Ender Dragon Kidney."
Zais stays in touch with Goodman to keep her updated on Helmlinger's progress.
"There are so many things that have changed," Zais said. "I send Meghan daily texts telling her, 'This is new for us today,' or 'I'm able to do this with Lucy,' or 'This is so much easier now that we have your kidney.' It touches my heart in ways that I could never even depict or illustrate to anybody. I don't know how you can thank someone for donating a main organ, which essentially is giving your personal child the gift of life."
Helmlinger, Goodman and Zais to talk about their journey.
It's a happy ending to a full circle story that's really just beginning for Helmlinger, who now has a chance to live life to the fullest.
"She is able to go for a long car ride, she doesn't have to go to the bathroom four times in 30 minutes," Zais said. "She is able to go swimming and not have to be on a timer. She's able to be out and play. I feel like life is really starting, and there's a lot of stuff I'm ready to do with her."
Helmlinger will join Justin, Scott and Spiegel for 98 Rock Night at Oriole Park on Friday, Aug. 8. Helmlinger will throw the first pitch at the 7:05 p.m. game against the Athletics.