News Anchor Gives Kidney to Stranger, Hope to Grand Rapids Mom

Jennifer VanderPoel thought she’d exhausted her pool of potential kidney donors after years of dialysis. However, Teresa Weakly, one of WoodTV8’s Daybreak anchors, heard Jennifer’s story and days later found herself at the Trinity Health Kidney Transplant Center – Grand Rapids for donor evaluation. While she wasn’t a match for Jennifer, the team informed her she had other options such as the voucher program, which removes barriers to compatibility by matching better-suited living donors with recipients through a nationwide database maintained by the National Kidney Registry. In 2020, Trinity Health Grand Rapids became the only adult transplant program in Michigan to partner with the National Kidney Registry. This story follows Teresa and Jennifer through their kidney procedures, navigating the voucher program, and the incredible stories they’ve intertwined.

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Learn about the Trinity Health Kidney Transplant Center in Grand Rapids, our new Kidney Transplant Clinic in Muskegon, and Information on becoming a donor