[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2017\/10\/kennedy-stevenson-and-mike-thompson-story\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2017\/10\/kennedy-stevenson-and-mike-thompson-story\/","headline":"Living Organ Donation: How Social Media Helped Save One Child’s Life","name":"Living Organ Donation: How Social Media Helped Save One Child’s Life","description":"Kennedy Stevenson underwent a successful living donor liver transplant. To learn about living donation and how to use Facebook to find a living donor, please visit the Living Donor Champion Toolkit.\r\n\r\n","datePublished":"2017-10-11","dateModified":"2021-03-08","author":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.upmc.com\/services\/transplant","name":"Transplant Services","url":"https:\/\/www.upmc.com\/services\/transplant","sameAs":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/transplant-services\/","parentOrganization":"UPMC"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"UPMC HealthBeat","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Kennedy.jpg","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Kennedy.jpg","height":327,"width":754},"url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2017\/10\/kennedy-stevenson-and-mike-thompson-story\/","about":["Pediatrics","Transplant"],"wordCount":384,"keywords":["liver transplant","living donor liver donation","Patient Stories"],"articleBody":"The Kennedy Stevenson and Mike Thompson StoryEvery mother knows her child is special \u2014\u00a0one in a billion and different from others in every way.What Donya McCoy didn’t know was that her daughter, Kennedy Stevenson, really was one in a billion.To learn about living organ donation and how to use Facebook to find a living donor, please visit the Living Donor Champion Toolkit.At just three years old, Kennedy was diagnosed with a metabolic disease so rare that only eight other people in the world are known to have had it. S-Adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase (AdoHcy) deficiency is a hereditary enzyme disorder that affects brain, muscle, and liver development.A living-donor liver transplant was her only hope and because of the hereditary nature of the disease, the donor would have to be someone not related to Kennedy. Desperate to find a donor for her daughter, Donya turned to Facebook.Okay Friends…here it is…the request of a lifetime, Donya posted in July 2014.\u00a0Is there anyone out there who has O+ blood and would be willing to donate 25 percent of their liver to save Kennedy\u2019s life? Trust me, I know it\u2019s a lot to ask. I can\u2019t even believe I\u2019m posting this, but as a mother, I have to exhaust every option possible.\u201cThis was the biggest network of people I knew, and I had to do it,” says Donya. “When I clicked that button, I was nervous and overwhelmed. This isn\u2019t something you\u2019d ever think would happen.\u201dIt wasn\u2019t long before she received a message from Mike Thompson, a former classmate who wanted to help.\u201cI’m a firefighter, so I help people every day \u2014\u00a0but to help somebody like this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” says Mike. \u201cIt\u2019s just the right thing to do, and I’m glad Donya let me help.\u201dThe transplant surgery took place on Nov. 11, 2014. Today, Kennedy and Mike are both doing well.\u201cPhysically, she’s great,\u201d says Donya. \u201cShe’s eating protein and developing so well \u2014 she seems to be catching up, and the doctors are amazed at her brain development. She is such a happy, playful, loving child \u2014 you’d never know she\u2019d gone through anything so serious.\u201dLearn more about living-donor liver transplant at UPMC. "},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2017","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2017\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2017\/\/10\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Living Organ Donation: How Social Media Helped Save One Child’s Life","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2017\/10\/kennedy-stevenson-and-mike-thompson-story\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]