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Organ recipients with same donor meet, 23 years after transplants

WALTHAM, Mass. — Twenty-three years after receiving life-saving gifts from the same donor, two organ recipients met for the first time at the New England Donor Services Center.

“I'm just a very, very lucky guy - I'm alive I've seen my grandchild born, my grandson, I've seen my daughter grow up. And I think organ donation is a wonderful thing,” said organ recipient, Allan Afrow.

Allan Afrow of Lynnfield received a kidney and Suzi Holmes of Waltham received a liver from a 21-year-old man.

“My platelet count was really low - they were going to hospitalize me,” said Holmes. “So I was really dying and that Saturday morning I woke up, my beeper was going off and the doctor on the phone said "How would you like to get a new liver today?””

The 21-year-old donor’s mother facetimed the two organ recipients.

The mother told Afrow and Holmes her son was just 21-years-old when he died, but she found solace in knowing his organs are helping others.

New England Donor Services said they're happy to reunite patients and donors who are interested in meeting.

More information about New England Donor Services can be found at http://neob.org/