From soldier to donor: Why Maranda Abitz gave a kidney to a stranger

From a young age, AKF Ambassador and veteran Maranda Abitz has been dedicated to service. "Giving back to others has been a big theme throughout my life," she said. At just 17 years old, she enlisted in the Wisconsin Army National Guard, following in the footsteps of her grandfathers and her uncle, who had also served in the military. "[Military service] was on the back of my mind and something I was considering, but then 9/11 happened," Maranda said. "I thought, 'this is what I need to do. I need to step up.'"

It was this sense of duty and responsibility to help others — which Maranda said was reinforced in her as one of the main values of the Army — that led her to donate a kidney to a stranger in 2019. "It's definitely all connected," she said about the link between her military service and her decision to donate an organ.

A personal watershed moment

Prior to donating, Maranda didn't know much about kidney disease. In fact, it was her place of work — Marian University in Wisconsin — that clued her in about the need for living kidney donors. "In the spring of 2019, Marian brought a panel to the university called Share Your Spare," Maranda said. "The panel had some kidney recipients, some kidney donors...they really were just sharing their stories and their personal journeys. Sitting in that room, seeing the emotions...it was like a lightning bolt for me. I just thought, 'This is something I need to see if I can pursue. I want to see if I can do this,'" she said. 

Since Maranda didn't have anybody in her life who needed a kidney, she decided to look into giving one to a person she didn't know. "I just wanted to help somebody out there and it did not matter to me at all if it was a stranger," she said. 

Receiving the call

After many rounds of testing, Maranda was approved to be a donor in October 2019. Soon after, she joined the National Kidney Registry and was told that there was no timeline for how long it would take to find her a match. "They said, 'it could be days, weeks, months,'" she said. However, Maranda received a call just 24 hours later, where she was told that a recipient had been found. "That was one of the most emotional experiences, getting that phone call," she said. "I will never forget it." 

Maranda knew very little about her recipient. "All they could tell me was my person was in Massachusetts, 30-40 and that they were somebody very hard to match with," she said. But while she didn't know much about the recipient, she still wanted to let this person know how much she cared for them and that she would love to meet them. "On my surgery day, I was able to bring a letter that was going to be sent with my kidney to my recipient," she said. "That was really cool."

An article leads to a fateful connection

Following the surgery in November 2019, Marian University wrote an article on Maranda. Then the local newsletter, the Fond du Lac Reporter, also covered her story. "It kind of went all around the U.S., which was like, holy cow, that's crazy," Maranda said. Her recipient saw the article, connected the dots and sent her a friend request on Facebook. 

Initially, Maranda was confused by the request, which came from a man named Travis Conway. "His profile was very private, and he didn't initially send a message or anything," she said. However, she could see that his profile picture and cover photo both had to do with organ donation, which made her wonder if Travis had received her kidney. 

"I sent him a message and said, 'Hey, I don't know if we've met, but you seem kind of familiar,'" she said. Travis quickly messaged her back. "He's like, 'no, we haven't met, but we're connected now and Betty is doing great,'" she said. Knowing that donors and recipients frequently name their kidneys, Maranda knew immediately that this was her recipient. "We have been connected ever since," Maranda said.

The meetup and what's next

While the COVID-19 pandemic prevented Maranda and Travis from meeting in person for a while, they finally got to meet in 2021, when Maranda and her husband traveled to Boston. "We met him, his wife and their family," she said. "His wife surprised us with a news crew from Boston, so we ended up on the news that night, which was pretty fantastic." Since then, the two have met up a handful of times. "Every time we see each other in person, it's fantastic," she said. "It's been life changing — not just sending my kidney to somebody but having the connection that we have." 

Travis echoed these sentiments and expressed his immense gratitude for Maranda. "To receive such a profound, life-saving gift from someone who didn't even know me is a level of generosity and selflessness that continues to amaze me," he said. "I am forever grateful for this second chance at life, and I will spend the rest of my days honoring this incredible act of kindness from my donor."

Maranda is also paying it forward, serving as an AKF Ambassador and raising awareness about organ donation and the need for living donors. This past May, she traveled to Washington, D.C. and took part in AKF's Kidney Action Summit on Capitol Hill, where she advocated for legislation important to the kidney community. "I have just wanted to try to do as much advocacy as I can," she said. 

Resources:

Kidney donation and transplant

Veterans and kidney disease

Advocacy and policy