MINNEAPOLIS — For most of his first two years of life, Cooper Thompson couldn't catch a break.
Neither could his parents, Katie and Eric Thompson.
"Before he was born, I didn't know I'd become a nurse with a business degree," said Katie Thompson, who took training to administer her son's dialysis eight months after he was born in end-stage renal failure.
But his cycle of treatment, and uncertain future, came to an end thanks to a series of surprises from complete strangers two months ago.
The Donor
Twenty-seven-year-old Ali Hansen knew she would be helping change someone's life when she signed up to become a living donor.
"I worked at the Iowa Donor Network when I was in college," Hansen said. "I knew how many people needed organs and it just kind of resonated with me because nobody in my family needs kidneys. No one I know needs kidneys. Eventually, I thought I might as well just do it while I'm young and I can."
But she never imagined it going to someone like Cooper.
"It's kind of surreal knowing that he has my kidney," Ali said. "When they told me it was going to a 2-year-old boy, I was like, 'I don't know how that works.'"
Ali also didn't know that it all worked out thanks to another stranger who lived several hundred miles away.
The Voucher
Lynn Scotch, of Madison, Wisconsin, learned about Cooper's need for a kidney after seeing a Facebook page where Katie started to share the story of Cooper's search for a kidney.
"I just started thinking to the future," Katie said. "I knew that this was inevitable and that we were going to need a transplant. I just hoped that the power of social media could help us find the perfect kidney, and it did."
By the time Lynn contacted Katie through the page, she notified her that she was donating her kidney to a stranger who she matched with in Wisconsin. She then said she had a voucher through the National Kidney Registry, that she wanted to give to Cooper. The voucher allowed him to jump to the highest priority on the living donor waiting list.
"We had no clue the vouchers existed," Katie said. "They had to explain it to me and I just kept thinking, Willy Wonka and they were giving him the (golden) ticket."
The Surgery
Just one month after receiving the voucher, Cooper was notified that he had a match nearby.
On March 2, Ali had her kidney removed at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center. It traveled just a half mile across the Mississippi River to M Health Fairview Masonic Children's Hospital, where Cooper underwent a successful transplant.
"Ever since the transplant, he's been a different kid," said Eric Thompson. "He's sleeping better, more talkative. Way more energy."
The Meetings
Shortly after receiving his golden ticket, and recovering from surgery, Cooper and his parents received plane tickets to New York City. NBC arranged the trip so that the family could surprise Lynn Scotch during a live segment on the Today Show.
During the emotional meeting, Lynn said that she chose to give Cooper his voucher in honor of her own son, who died when he was just 2 years old.
"It's really full circle for me," she said. "I say it's redemptive healing because I carried that stone of regret that we were never able to donate his organs at the time. And so that regret is gone."
"He was given a second chance at life thanks to Lynn and his donor Ali back home," Katie said on the show.
Ali had a chance to meet Cooper for the first time a few days later. The families connected outside Masonic Children's Hospital and realized that they live just 15 minutes apart.
"It's shocking," Katie said. "I can't believe she is so close. I'm excited to see how their relationship grows. I've thought about it so many times and how I could describe it and I truly can't. When there's something so big and you're told that you can't save your own child, and then you find out that multiple people are willing to do it, with them getting nothing in return. It just makes you feel so good about people... that they would want to do something to change my child. It's unreal."
Doctors say Ali's kidney could help Cooper for up to 30 years. His dad plans to step up after that. Eric is preparing to donate his own kidney to a stranger in the coming months. He'll use his voucher to cover Cooper whenever the need arises.
He credits Ali, Lynn and many others for inspiring him.
"I want people to know it's really not that bad," Ali said. "I just want to inspire other people to donate, or at least be an organ donor. It's something that's really important to a lot of people. There's so many people on the waiting list."
For more information on the voucher program and how you can become a living donor, click here.
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