WESTFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - Two people living states apart came together Thursday for a meaningful meeting more than a year and a half in the making.
Travis Conway of Westford was in need of a kidney after having two other transplants. With this being his third, he only had an 8 percent chance of finding a match.
That is when Maranda Abitz stepped in to help from hundreds of miles away. The two went under the knife back in November of 2019 and the transplant was successful.
Donations are usually anonymous, however, Albitz was able to send Conway a letter through the agency and they have been conversing over Facebook ever since.
“It was pretty great, it’s been almost a year and a half since our surgeries about three months since we connected, kinda just building this bond through messages but I have been just waiting for this day for so long so it was amazing,” she said.
Conway said he is grateful to her for giving him a new lease on life so that he can spend more time with his fiancee and three children.
“It’s an amazing thing to do,” he said. “I could be more grateful there aren’t enough words or enough ways to thank someone for doing something like that.”
Abitz said she was compelled to donate after attending a presentation on the importance of donors.
The two had dinner Thursday night with their spouses and Abitz will be staying in Woburn before heading back to Wisconsin.
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