When Debby Neal-Strickland married her longtime boyfriend Jim Merthe on Nov. 22, she described it as being "the most amazing day of my life, until two days later. That was also the most amazing day of my life."
It wasn't because they arrived at a fabulous honeymoon destination or moved into a brand new home. On Nov. 24, Debby went to a Florida hospital and donated one of her kidneys to Mylaen Merthe — her new husband's ex-wife.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Debby could instantly see a change in Mylaen after the surgery, telling AP she looked "so alive and revitalized." The women now call each other kidney sisters, and have matching tags — Debby's reads "Kidney Donor, I Shared My Spare," while Mylaen's says "Kidney Recipient, I Run on Spare Parts." They are looking forward to taking their blended family on a summer trip to Georgia, because "this is what the world is about," Mylaen told AP. "Family. We need to stick together. She saved my life."
-
August 16 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include football season anticipation, and Donald Trump angling for Putin's autograph
-
5 hilariously cold cartoons about the Alaska summitCartoons Artists take on the Alaskan totem pole, a peace flag, and more
-
Journalists killed in Gaza: a chilling assaultIn the Spotlight Anas al-Sharif and three of his Al Jazeera colleagues were targeted by the IDF
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet underseaSpeed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
New York plans first nuclear plant in 36 yearsSpeed Read The plant, to be constructed somewhere in upstate New York, will produce enough energy to power a million homes
-
Dehorning rhinos sharply cuts poaching, study findsSpeed Read The painless procedure may be an effective way to reduce the widespread poaching of rhinoceroses
-
Breakthrough gene-editing treatment saves babyspeed read KJ Muldoon was healed from a rare genetic condition
-
Sea lion proves animals can keep a beatspeed read A sea lion named Ronan beat a group of college students in a rhythmic dance-off, says new study
