The perfect match

Atlanta Journal-Constitution | Helena Oliviero


A rare kidney disease strikes one or two children out of 100,000. But it struck twice in Joe and Lori Dickman’s family. Against those odds, what were the chances two donors would come forward?

In this age of emails, tweets and Facebook postings, Lori Dickman chose an old-fashioned way to try to save her son’s life: She typed up a plea on a sheet of paper.

What were the odds that anyone would respond?

But what were the odds that 10-year-old Bryson would suffer from the same rare kidney disorder that had afflicted his older sister, Sarah, five years earlier?

The girl, against all odds, had found a donor â€" a mom with a big heart and a perfectly matched kidney to spare. The donor had seen the paper flier at her children’s elementary school.

Sarah, sickly since birth, had beaten the odds.

But Bryson? The kid was healthy, one of the tallest kids on his basketball team. He glowed with energy.

So when Lori Dickman brought her son to the family pediatrician in March 2011 for a routine strep test, she wasn’t prepared for the diagnosis: Bryson, like Sarah, had inherited a genetic kidney disorder. When she heard the diagnosis, she fell to her knees.

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{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}

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