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 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.