A daughter's story about secretly donating her kidney to her father has quickly gone viral on TikTok. And the most rewarding part for her was giving her dad a second chance at life.
In the original video posted by Delayne Ivanowski, dad John Ivanowski wakes up in the hospital to discover that his anonymous kidney donor is his own 25-year-old daughter.
Overcome with emotion, John Ivanowski breaks down in tears when his daughter, dressed in a surgical gown, walked into his hospital room. "Oh my god, are you kidding me?" he says in disbelief.
In her TikTok video, Delayne Ivanowski asked her viewers to donate $1 each to support her family's medical bills, and they responded both quickly and generously.
“I got a way bigger response than I ever was expecting to,” she said in an interview with News4.
The gift that he received was priceless, and it was something he never expected. Until he woke up from surgery, John Ivanowski had no idea that his daughter had donated her kidney to him.
Delayne had made the decision to donate her kidney to her father over a year ago when doctors informed him that he had an Immunoglobulin A deficiency that caused his overactive immune system to attack his kidneys.
“He’s been hooked up to a machine for three, four, five hours a day. It’s not the right quality of life I don’t think anyone should have to live in,” Delayne Ivanowski said.
“So, then my first thought was, why can’t he just have my kidney right now?”
@delayne_i watch my dad find out that I was his anonymous kidney donor after keeping it a secret for 8 months 🥹 grab a tissue! ##fyp##kidneydonor ♬ original sound - Delayne
Although her father was against the idea of her undergoing major surgery for his sake, Delayne was determined to give him her kidney.
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He thought she was "too young," but she had other plans in mind.
Delayne said that she didn't even know how she got his coordinator's phone number, but that didn't stop her from saving her father's life. She reached out to her and asked, "Hey, how can I do this? When can we start?"
After being given the green light for the transplant, Delayne Ivanowski underwent a series of tests until they determined that she was a match and could donate a kidney to her father.
During this time, her father had no knowledge of the transplant process until he woke up in the hospital room following a successful surgery.
“I can’t stop crying,” he said, admitting that he was both "upset" and “grateful” that his daughter had given him her kidney without his knowledge.
Delayne believes that giving a kidney is one of the greatest things someone could ever give. She remarked, “It’s literally like donating life.”
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