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Carol Stream woman to donate kidney, host fundraisers for a stranger

Kim Murphy and Ginny Kronsted only knew each other casually from a Carol Stream business networking event. But when Murphy heard Kronsted's daughter needed a kidney, she sprang into action.

Murphy not only arranged to donate her kidney to 22-year-old Aurora native Nikki Lyons, she also set up fundraisers across the suburbs to help Lyons pay for the pricey medication she'll need after the transplant surgery next week.

“Fate intervened,” Murphy said. “People cross our paths and we think nothing of it, but then one day you realize, there is a reason.”

Murphy, a Carol Stream resident, said she never thought twice about donating a kidney to a stranger. She likes to do charitable things, and regularly stops at expressway ramps in Chicago and hands out sandwiches and supplies to the homeless.

“It's who I am. It's what I need to do,” said Murphy, a loan officer at 1st Advantage Mortgage in Lombard. “If I don't need two kidneys, why wouldn't I give one to someone who needs it? I just can't imagine what her mother is going through.”

Both Kronsted and Lyons struggle to describe how much Murphy's kindness means to them.

“I don't know if I could have stepped up to donate to someone I don't have a close relationship with. Someone I don't really know. I would now ... but that's what's so amazing about Kim. She's absolutely amazing,” Kronsted said.

Lyons, who has been ill this week, simply said about Murphy: “She's awesome.”

A Waubonsie High School alumna, Lyons was studying at the University of Illinois to become a doctor. She started feeling sick and her energy dropped. Soon, she was struggling to keep up in school. She had her appendix removed and, during the surgery, the doctors noticed something was wrong with her kidneys. She was later diagnosed with a kidney disease called Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, or FSGS. The disease attacks filtering units within the kidneys, causing scarring that leads to permanent kidney damage.

Lyons had to drop out of school. She was put on a kidney donor list, but things moved slowly. It was taking six to eight weeks to screen each potential donor, and no one at that point appeared to be a match. Kidney dialysis three times a week, for five hours a day, appeared eminent.

That's when Murphy came into the picture. Murphy had previously gone through the testing to donate a kidney, so she got her paperwork from Loyola Medical Center and brought it over to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where Lyons is a patient. Because Murphy was prescreened, it saved weeks of time. And she was a match.

When Kronsted heard the news, she roamed around downtown Chicago in a tear-filled daze.

“I sat down and I cried,” she said. “Then I walked back out onto Michigan Avenue and I went the wrong way. I was praying and literally talking out loud. People must have thought I was crazy. But I was thanking God that my prayers have been answered.”

The surgery is set for Friday, Feb. 26, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. If all goes well, Lyons intends to pay Murphy's kindness forward by working on a way to shorten the screening period for kidney donations, in hopes of helping others in her situation.

Nikki Lyons, who grew up in Aurora, is getting a kidney donation from a Carol Stream woman she didn't know.
Kim Murphy of Carol Stream is donating a kidney to a stranger and also holding fundraisers to help her afford her medication afterward.

Fundraisers for Nikki Lyons

• 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, at Hit It Fitness, 800 Lake St., Unit 100, Roselle. $10 per person. Kickboxing at 6:30, followed by a wine and cheese celebration at 7:30 p.m. (630) 307-7930.

• 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21, at Pinot's Palette, 100 W. Higgins Road, Suite H-80, South Barrington. $38 per person and includes all painting supplies. There will be food, raffles and wine. (224) 484-8526

• Donate at <a href="https://helphopelive.org/campaign/9545">helphopelive.org/campaign/9545</a>.

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