Nurse Who Once Cared For Infant Returns Years Later As Living kidney Donor
USA: A child who spent her first six months in the neonatal intensive care unit and lived with chronic kidney disease received a life-changing kidney transplant in March when a former nurse who once cared for her stepped forward as a living donor. Caroline, born with Down syndrome and persistent medical challenges, had long been monitored for kidney trouble, and her mother Lisa had feared the day a transplant would be necessary.
Sixteen years earlier Morgan Schweinfurth began her nursing career in the newborn ICU at the hospital’s main campus and was on duty when Caroline was a neonate. Morgan’s family history included an organ transplant for her grandfather, and the memory of that gift stayed with her. Months later, after seeing a social-media appeal from Caroline’s family and recognizing a potential match, Morgan pursued evaluation and emerged as a compatible living donor.
The donor–recipient match moved quickly. With blood types aligning, both women were scheduled for surgery and went into the operating room together in March as surgeons performed the kidney transplant. Medical teams reported the procedure as a full success for both patients, and the hospital setting became the scene of an emotional meeting between two families who had been linked first by a bedside years earlier and then by the operating table.
The outcome has reshaped the families’ lives and created a new, close connection between the two mothers. Lisa expressed profound relief and gratitude that Morgan accepted the risk of donation without hesitation despite concerns about how others might view Caroline because of her Down syndrome. According to Lisa, Caroline is feeling great and is thrilled to be back, marking the start of a long recovery and a bond forged through care, generosity, and a rare medical reunion.
