Wisconsin police officer donates kidney to boy she's never met before

published 6 October 2017

After seeing a Facebook post from a mom desperate to find her 9-year-old son a kidney donor, Lindsey Bittorf couldn't get the message out of her head.

Bittorf, a police officer from Rock County, Wisconsin, and mother of a 2-year-old, decided to have her blood tested to see if she could donate her kidney to Jackson Arneson. It turned out she was a perfect match. Before the transplant in June, Bittorf became close to Arneson and his mom, Kristi Goll, and now, several months later, they continue to text daily. "I can't thank Lindsey enough," Goll told People. "She's one of the family now."

Arneson was born with posterior urethral valves, which usually causes kidney damage. Arneson is doing well post-transplant, and hopes to go back to school in a few weeks. "He is so strong and brave," Bittorf told People. "I am just in awe of him. He calls me his best friend now. It's amazing that we went from being complete strangers to best friends." Arneson said the kidney "is the very best gift I will ever receive. I'm going to take extra, extra good care of it." Watch a video from when Bittorf surprised Arneson and his family with the donor news below. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.