Man finds kidney donor after wearing a special shirt at Disney World

The Magic Kingdom.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Knowing he would be surrounded by throngs of people during a trip to Disney World in August, Robert Leibowitz wore a shirt with a message he wanted seen by as many eyes as possible: "In Need of Kidney O Positive Call 917-597-2651."

Leibowitz, a 60-year-old single dad from New Jersey, has had chronic kidney disease for decades and been on dialysis for years. A woman stopped Leibowitz and asked if she could snap a photo of his shirt and share it on Facebook; by the end of the trip, it had been shared 40,000 times, and strangers were calling Leibowitz, asking if they could help. Ultimately, five people were tested, and it turned out that one of them, Richie Sully of Indiana, was a match.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.