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Facebook Plea Helps Man Finds Kidney Donor in Middle School Pal

by Caleb Johnson on June 3, 2010 at 05:35 PM

Facebook Kidney DonorIt's hard enough to find a decent roommate on Facebook, so finding someone to save your life is a near impossibility. So it was a daunting task Californian Eli Powell faced when he turned to the social networking site three years ago after he learned he had Berger's disease, which would eventually destroy his kidneys.

According to CBS 13 News, the Citrus Heights native actually successfully found a matching kidney donor by asking his Facebook friends for help (check out the video here). Powell, a father of two boys, wrote, "I need some help, I need a kidney transplant" on his Facebook page. We're not sure how many responses he received, but the eventual match came from an unlikely person -- Paul Jones, a middle-school friend who hadn't spoken with Powell in a decade. "Figured he's young, has a family, and I'd want someone to do that for me if I was in his position," Jones told CBS. The transplant is set to happen in August, and aside from a few scars, each man will also take away a wonderful story.

This isn't the first time somebody has donated a kidney via Facebook. In fact, this phenomenon has been documented in a book called 'Facebook Fairytales.' It's comforting to hear about social networking being used for something good, rather than leading to divorces and firings. If we're ever in a situation similar to the one above, we just hope that somebody on our friends list would be willing to part with a kidney. [From: CBS 13 News]

Tags: elipowell, facebook, facebook fairytales, FacebookFairytales, health, kidney, kidney donor, kidney transplant, KidneyDonor, OrganDonation, paul jones, PaulJones, SocialNetworking, top, toyota, Web

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