A chance encounter leads an Uber driver to donate his kidney to save the life of his passenger. Salem, New Jersey, resident Bill Sumiel was on the waitlist for a new kidney and having to undergo regular dialysis when the transplant team informed him that because of his age he needed to start looking for a kidney and not wait until his spot on the list came up.
The next day, while he was taking an Uber to his dialysis appointment, he struck up a conversation with his Uber driver. After telling him about his dilemma, the driver, Army veteran Tim Letts tells Sumiel that he thinks God must have brought them together. He then offered his kidney to Sumiel. "He says, 'If you'll take my name and number, I'll give a kidney to you," Sumiel recalls. "I was shaking so hard I couldn't even write down his name and number."
The driver ended up being a match for his passenger and the two underwent successful transplant surgery. Sumiel is grateful to his donor and the two men have become lifelong friends. He can’t imagine what life would be like if it hadn’t been for that miracle Uber ride. "I know miracles have happened in the past. Maybe they never happened to me, maybe they have,” Sumiel says. “But now I really have those beliefs reinforced."
Source: 6ABC
Photo: Getty Images