Mother is rare donor match for son with kidney failure

DETROIT - Austin Deweese had been waiting for a kidney donor, but doctors told him finding a rare match would be extremely difficult. But very recently, Austin did find a match: His own mother.

Austin’s mother Shaundra worked for years as an operating room nurse, and even before Austin’s kidney problems began she had begun working at a dialysis center. When doctors told Austin he’d need a new kidney, she immediately offered to donate. 

The doctors told her that the odds of matching as a donor were very low. But then she got a call with incredible news.

“When I made the one call they said it was negative. Immediately I was panicking because I thought it was a bad thing,” Shaundra told FOX 2. “They said ‘No, it’s negative. That means it’s good. Because none of the antibodies reacted and you are a perfect match for your son.”

The surgery is scheduled for next month, and both Shaundra and Austin are well aware of the significance of the moment.

“It’s very emotional knowing that I can help him,” said Shaundra. “See him grow and get married and have kids, knowing that I helped in that, is overwhelming.”

Said Austin, “What can you say about that? Your mother already gives you life one time, and now she’s giving me life twice.”

Austin’s father Dennis, a police officer who has been battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, says he hopes his family’s story will help people remember the value of being a donor.

“Everybody should donate,” he said. “It’s a matter of life and death for somebody.”