North Carolina woman uses Craigslist in search of new kidney

A North Carolina woman who desperately needs a new kidney has turned to newspaper ads and the internet for help.

Lisa Thomas was raised in Salisbury and has had kidney disease since she was 8 years old. 

She had a transplant five years ago, but her body rejected the kidney after three and a half years.

Today, she is in dialysis three days a week.

It is a painful and exhausting treatment that could eventually wear down her heart.

Thomas is on a national transplant list, but the odds are against her.

“The doctors look at me and say it’s going to be rough,“ Thomas said.

She has rare antibodies in her type 0 blood that make her a difficult recipient.

Her family and many friends have all been tested, but none are acceptable donors.

That is why her family decided to expand their pool of friends to anyone who would listen.

“That’s our mission, we’re trying to make something happen,“ her son Matt explained.

They started with an ad in the Salisbury Post, and then a posting on the website Craigslist.

They are planning a classified in Asheville’s newspaper near her Spruce Pine home.

“I don’t care what they say.  I know we are going to find one. I know the Lord has me that perfect kidney out there,“ Thomas said. “I want to live, I want to be here for my children and my grandbabies, it’s so important to me to survive.“

If you think it’s a plea no stranger would answer, think again. 

Matt Thomas has received 30 to 40 e-mails and phone calls.

Mark Trux saw an article in the Salisbury paper and is already working on being tested.

“I saw it in the paper,“ he said. “I figured I’ve had a pretty healthy life and I want to help somebody who hasn’t.“

The United Network for Organ Sharing UNOS monitors the official transplant list used by most people in need of organs.

Their focus is organs from recently deceased patients, and so they have no official position on soliciting donations from living people.

Still, Joel Newman, a spokesman for the organization says a committee has studied the issue.