Utah Mom Donates Kidney to Stranger She Met Hiking: 'It's a Modern Day Miracle'
Krissy Miller said a prayer when she went hiking on Sept. 14, 2023 — when she met a man in need of a kidney, she knew it was a sign she was meant to be his donor
Krissy Miler was already interested in becoming a kidney donor when she met Shiller Joseph while he was hiking with his wife in Utah.
After asking him about his Miami Heat jersey, Joseph told her he was waiting for a transplant, and thought he might move up the list faster in Utah than Florida
Right then and there on the trail, Miller said she wanted to give him her kidney, and miraculously they were a near perfect match
In October 2022, Krissy Miller saw a Facebook post about a man who needed a kidney.
“I tried scrolling on, but I just kept getting drawn back,” says, Miller, a 49-year-old stay-at-home mother to four girls and a licensed social worker. “I thought, 'If that were my husband, I'd want someone to help.’ And then I thought, 'If everyone thinks someone else can do it, no one's going to do it.’ ”
She offered to be his kidney donor, but because her blood sugar was too high, she was deemed ineligible to donate. She also remembers being told that if she lost about 10 lbs., her blood sugar would probably be lower.
“But you might as well say, ‘Lose a hundred lbs.,’ because I had tried before so many times," she says. "And it was winter and I just didn't want to feel like a failure.”
In the spring, she started going for hikes three or four days a week, doing intermittent fasting and ended up losing 37 lbs. The idea of being a kidney donor kept popping into her head, but she says, "life was busy, so I put it aside."
On Sept. 14, 2023, she was hiking the Y Mountain, about a 2.2 mile trail in Provo, Utah.
“I decided to say a prayer — which isn't a normal thing I do before hiking,” she says. “I said a specific prayer: Heavenly Father guide my thoughts to help me know if I should pursue this or if I just need to let it go. Help me know, help me.”
That day, she met Shiller Joseph, 46, hiking the same trail with his wife Rhona. She asked him about the Miami Heat basketball jersey he was wearing.
The father of three shared that he had moved to Utah from Florida in March 2020. Miller asked what he liked about Utah. He shared that he was waiting for a kidney transplant, and he thought he might move up the list faster in Utah than Florida.
Joseph was diagnosed with lupus when he was 20 and the autoimmune disease attacked his kidneys. He gained weight, had high blood pressure and eventually his kidneys failed, so he started dialysis in 2021.
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Miller started to cry. She saw it as a sign.
“I remember thinking, 'If I'm willing to donate to anyone, why not this person standing right in front of me?' ” she says. “I felt like that was an answer to prayers."
Related: Mo. Woman, 25, Secretly Donates Kidney to Her Father, 60, Who Told Her Not To: 'I Was in Shock'
He told her with his blood type, O+, it would be about a six to eight year wait for a kidney in Florida. She told him she has the same blood type.
“She’s like, “I’m giving you my kidney,” remembers Joseph, a former paramedic, volunteer firefighter and pastor. “That's when my wife and I started to shed tears.”
They exchanged information. The two strangers ended up being a near perfect match.
“It''s really amazing,” says Dr. Donald Morris, 56-year-old kidney transplant director and a nephrologist who was a member of their care team at at Intermountain Medical Center. “Statistically it's quite rare that there's such a great match.”
Joseph's brother had offered to donate a kidney, but he wasn't a match. A sibling has about a one in four chance of matching, Morris explains. As for the odds of meeting a stranger while hiking and matching? Well, Morris puts that at "one in a million — or more."
Related: For 2 Ga. Couples, a Transplant Created an Unbreakable Bond: 'We're the Kidney Warrior Family'
The transplant took place April 2, 2024 at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah
The two families are now close friends, he calls Miller his sister, and his angel.
Now, Joseph is feeling healthier than he has in years. Miller feels back to herself again after the surgery, she spent the summer rafting, backpacking, hiking, playing football and working outside.
“I feel great, but I feel better mentally and spiritually,” she says.
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They share their story to help encourage others to become organ donors. “I wouldn't want someone not to donate because they fear it's this big scary surgery,” she says. “You recover and you go on with life.”
And while she may have lost a kidney, she gained new friends. “She's amazing,” Joseph says. “It's a modern day miracle.”
To learn more about living kidney donation at Intermountain Health, go here.
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