Pittsburgh women give kidneys to strangers and help save six lives (exclusive)

• When Erin Wheeler's kidneys (donated by her father when she was 10 years old) began to fail, her mother, Julia Catalano, wanted to donate her, but she wasn't a good match.
• This has led to the organ donation chain. The stranger, Eve Alden, donated his kidneys to Wheeler, allowing Catalano to donate his kidneys to strangers. Six have since been transplanted
• Wheeler “will always be part of my family,” Alden tells people.

After donating a portion of her liver to a friend of a friend in June 2023, Eve Alden wanted to give more.

During the one-year test after the transplant, Alden asked if he could test him as a kidney donor. Thirteen days later, she started a kidney exchange chain that donated her kidneys to strangers and benefited six people.

“I've always wanted to help people,” says Alden, 41, who works in administrative and marketing at a dental clinic in Pittsburgh.

The transplant took place on August 6, 2024. On her weekly post-operative appointment, the doctor asked Alden if she wanted to see the kidney recipient. “She wants to see you,” the surgeon told her.

Alden said yes and was introduced to Erin Wheeler.

“It was instantly tears and embrace,” recalls Alden. “Erin's dad gave me the biggest hug and said, “Thank you for saving my baby.” ”

James Wheeler, the father of Wheeler, a 70-year-old retired police officer, had actually given his daughter one of her daughters in February 1990.

When she was five years old, Erin had been diagnosed with a congenital abnormality, causing reflux in the kidneys. At age 10, she needed a kidney transplant and both her parents (divorced) volunteered. “My dad was stubborn,” recalls Wheeler, a 45-year-old senior career consultant at the University of Pittsburgh. “He really, really wanted to donate.”

In December 2023, Wheeler was told by the kidney her father gave him that his father had failed her and that he would need another kidney transplant.

“I shed tears,” she says. “I thought I was invincible. Everything was so great for a long time. I thought, 'I'm just continuing to be an extraordinary, this warrior.' It was shocking. ”

Her mother, Julia Catalano, a 70-year-old registered nurse, volunteered to donate her kidneys immediately.

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And while Catalano proved to be a daughter's match, she is a universal donor, blood type O. So they suggested replacing the kidneys – Catalano donates to another waiting recipient, and Alden gives her kidneys to Wheeler.

“That was a bit tough for us both at first. You might want to do a little more, because you want to do it in person,” admits Catalano. Catalano went to a stranger whose kidneys were close to her.

Both surgeries were performed on the same day, August 6th, at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Catalano and Wheeler checked in to the hospital together. Catalano had surgery first. They said goodbye, they cried. “Then I waited,” Wheeler says.

All the surgery went well.

“It's all perfect,” says the surgeon. Dr. Amit Teval50 years old, surgical director of the Kidney and Pancreatic Transplant Program at UPMC.

They kicked off the “open chain,” Tebal says. That is, when Alden was able to replace Catalano as Wheeler's donor, Catalano allowed him to donate to another recipient. And their donors were then turned to someone else.

“Eve is probably the most effervescent and altruistic person I have ever encountered in my life,” adds Tebal. “So far, this open chain has implanted one very special donor at a time.”

A week after the surgery, Alden was undergoing her examination when he asked Tebal if he wanted to see a woman who had her kidneys.

“Eve did that out of her good heart,” Wheeler says. “It was really special, really, really selfless. Eve says he's like this angel on earth. She's amazing.”

Alden returned to work a week after his laparoscopic kidney donation and ran a half marathon in October. And although she can no longer donate another organ (blood and plasma only), she shares her story to educate and encourage others to become living donors.

She and Wheeler also became friends on social media. They text messages – and then they talked about getting together for coffee.

“I think she and her family will always be part of my family,” Alden says. “I'm sure they'll say the same thing.”

click here More about the University of Pittsburgh's Living Donor Transplant Service – or here More comprehensive information about organ transplant programs.