Organ donation News and Reporting Coverage | WRAL

Meet the world's youngest recipient of an artificial heart--38 years later

He was the world's youngest recipient of an artificial heart. And he was expected to live only a year. But as so often, life didn't go as predicted.

Co-workers, birthday twins and now an even closer bond

Kristin Lundberg, a theater and dance teacher at Fuquay-Varina Middle, is donating a kidney to her assistant principal, Ernest DeVane, after learning she was a perfect match.

'A no brainer:' Wake County theater teacher said donating kidney to colleague was easy decision

A Fuquay-Varina Middle School teacher is donating a kidney to someone who's battled renal disease for years - the school's assistant principal. Their friendship takes on new meaning through her generosity.

Kidney donation gives Fuquay-Varina Middle School principal new start in life

Fuquay-Varina Middle School Assistant Principal Ernest DeVane has long needed a kidney transplant. The school's theater and dance teacher was a perfect match.

Family seeks donor for daughter with rare liver condition

Hollis Linn is battling a liver condition that is so rare it doesn't have a commonly used medical name.

Good news: Chapel Hill family finds liver donor for 5-year-old daughter

The Linn family in Chapel Hill is celebrating good news -- a living donor match has been located for their 5-year-old daughter, Hollis, who is battling a rare liver condition without a common medical name.

FAQ: Organ donors give the gift of life

Discover the profound impact of organ and bone marrow donation as WRAL delves into commonly asked questions surrounding giving the gift of life.

Fuquay-Varina family, Virginia family forever linked by organ donation

Health advocates are getting out the word on the life-saving impact that organ donation can have - including for a local Fuquay-Varina family and a Virginia family, who are now forever linked thanks to the gift of life.

'Her second chance': Family grateful to Fuquay-Varina teenager who donated heart to their daughter

A Fuquay-Varina family who tragically lost their daughter finally met the recipient of her heart two years later.

Anonymous kidney donation at UNC reverberates 22 years later when donor, recipient meet

A Chapel Hill woman's anonymous kidney donation illustrates the lessons of Thanksgiving and how one choice prolonged a stranger's life while creating a decades-long bond.

Ryan Bisesi, WRAL multiplatform producer

Donor, recipient meet decades after first anonymous kidney donation at UNC Hospital

Anne Kelly and Debra Norris talked about finally meeting each other after writing letters for 22 years. In 2002, Kelly anonymously donated her kidney to Norris, who had been on a waitlist for years.

NC teacher donates kidney to help save former student

A Pender County man was born with a condition that affects his kidney. His former teacher was willing to give him one of hers. But they weren't a match.

WRAL staff

NC teacher donates kidney to stranger to help former student

A North Carolina man is closer to getting a new kidney after a teacher's generous donation.

Boy killed in Garner crash could save lives through organ donation

Miles Campbell is donating his organs to save the lives of others.

Veteran continues heroics one year after fatal motorcycle accident

More than a year after Patrick Brozowski died in a motorcycle accident, his organs continue to save the lives of others.

Veteran continues saving lives one year after dying in motorcycle accident

Memorial Day is when many people gather and honor those who have died while serving our country. For this holiday weekend, one local family is reflecting on a beloved veteran who continues to serve even after his death.

Lora Lavigne, WRAL anchor/reporter

Striking the right chord: How a kidney transplant changed a local musician's life

Jason Adamo was making pasta in the kitchen for his kids, when he received the call of a lifetime. He got a kidney donor.

Daniela Cazares, 2024 CBC-UNC Diversity Fellow

More people need transplants than there are organ donors. Pigs might be a solution

(CNN) — Last summer, after more than a decade of illness, Lawrence Faucette and his wife, Ann, faced the hard reality that the end of his life was near.

By Jen Christensen, CNN

Plea for kidney donors to help Raleigh man and others in need

A Raleigh couple is now desperately seeking a kidney donation for themselves or anyone else who needs it.

Raleigh man needs another kidney donor, makes plea for others with the same need

A Raleigh couple is now desperately seeking a kidney donation for themselves or anyone else who needs it.

A daughter's gift: A kidney for dad

Lauren Herlihy put her faith in the power of medicine and became a living donor for her father.

'Gift from my daughter:' UNC nurse practitioner donates organ to save father's life

A nurse practitioner at UNC recently donated a kidney to save her father's life.

Destinee Patterson, WRAL multimedia journalist

U.S. organ transplant system, troubled by long wait times, faces an overhaul

WASHINGTON -- The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it would seek to break up the network that has long run the nation's organ transplant system as part of a broader modernization effort intended to shorten wait times, address racial inequities and reduce the number of patients who die while waiting.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times

Widower of WRAL News employee meets beneficiary of her organ donation

Tears and hugs were almost guaranteed when Ed Simanskis met the young woman who got new life from the donation of his wife's kidney.

'Fantastic, emotional:' Organ recipient, widower of WRAL employee meet

In January 2022, WRAL News Assignment Editor Erin Simanskis, died after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver during a snow storm on Western Boulevard. A year later, Simanskis' family got to meet the young woman who got the gift of life from that death, the recipient of one of her organs.

Amanda Lamb, WRAL reporter