Stranger donates kidney to ailing 8-year-old Atlanta girl

ATLANTA -- The picture of the smiling little girl on the flier was more than Laura Bolan could take.

The 8-year-old on the pamphlet needed a kidney transplant, and Bolan knew she could help. She did a quick Web search on the surgery and talked it over with her husband. Then she made a phone call to offer one of her kidneys to Sarah Dickman.

The suburban Atlanta girl was born with the genetic disease juvenile nephronophthisis, which slowly destroys the kidneys. Without treatment, it can kill a child before the age of 15.

Bolan, 34, had never met Sarah when she agreed to donate the organ.

The pair underwent successful surgeries Thursday at hospitals across the street from each other in Atlanta. Surgeon Dr. Thomas Pearson said both patients were doing well on Friday, and initial tests of Sarah's new kidney showed it was working normally.

Sarah was expected to be in intensive care for at least a day and then spend up to a week at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. She said she was looking forward to being free from a dialysis machine so she can spend the night at her best friend's house.

Bolan was expected to return home after a few days at Emory University Hospital. She first saw a flier about Sarah in September at the school Sarah attends .

Bolan knew she had the same blood type as the little girl, so she called the number on the flier that evening.

Sarah's parents, Lori and Joe Dickman, had added Sarah's name to a national waiting list for transplant recipients after learning that neither parent was a match to donate a kidney. The flier was just a shot in the dark.

The Dickmans received two calls from people interested in donating a kidney. Both were tested, and Bolan was the better match. The Dickmans were relieved because Sarah's condition was quickly deteriorating.

She was put on dialysis in September, the same month the flier went up.

"We definitely need more people like Laura in the world," Lori Dickman said.

Joe Dickman wants to add his name to living donor lists so that he can help someone else. It's the least he can do to repay Bolan for saving his daughter, he said.

"A thank-you doesn't fit for what she's doing," Joe Dickman said of Bolan. "She can call me at four in the morning for a gallon of milk. I don't care. I'm indebted to her for life."