Local woman donates kidney to coworker

POTTSTOWN, Pa. (FOX 29) - One local woman who needed a kidney was beginning to think she'd never find a perfect match until a stranger who works at the same facility stepped in.

FOX 29's Joyce Evans has the story.

It seemed like a routine meeting for Angela Meidinger and Devan Fletcher-- directors of admissions and marketing at two separate buildings on the campus of the Sanatoga Nursing and Rehab Facility in Pottstown, Pa.

But the meeting was so much more. Fletcher, 27, donated a kidney to Meidinger, 48, who suffers from a hereditary kidney disorder. The same disorder claimed her mother's life.

Fletcher had just come the Sanatoga and saw the sticker on Meidinger's car seeking a kidney. She saw the sticker two weeks after her grandfather died. He decided he didn't want to continue dialysis for his failed kidneys. She couldn't help him, so she wanted to try to help someone else.

"Most of the reason I'm doing this is for him--in his honor-- in my mind," she explained.

That was before she really got to know Meidinger's drive and caring spirit while struggling in silence and waiting for a donor match.

Fletcher told her family Christmas Day.

"Every single one of them said 'I'm proud of you', every single one," Fletcher said.