Two 10-hour car rides didn't prevent Courtney Jewell from giving a kidney to her brother.
Jewell, 24, drove to northwestern Pennsylvania two weeks ago from her home in Statesville, North Carolina, to donate her left kidney to her brother, Warren County resident Matthew Jewell.
She plans to ride back home with her boyfriend in a couple of weeks after she fully recovers from the surgery.
Courtney Jewell wasn't expecting to travel so far after she agreed in June 2020 to donate a kidney. She was living with her mother in Rochester, New York, when she lost her job and moved to North Carolina to stay with other family members and look for work.
But living 530 miles from UPMC Hamot, where the transplant was performed, wasn't going to prevent Courtney Jewell from keeping her promise.
"When I started my new job in North Carolina, I told them about a month into it that I was going to donate a kidney," she said. "My manager was very understanding."
Years of battling an autoimmune disease had left Matthew Jewell's kidneys unable to do their job cleansing the blood of toxins. He had been on dialysis since January 2020.
Once Hamot doctors approved him as a transplant candidate, Matthew Jewell asked his sister if she would be willing to donate one of her kidneys to him.
"I just needed to pray over it," Courtney Jewell said. "I did, and I had a lot of peace over it."
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Being a sibling doesn't guarantee a donor match
Jewell underwent the donor screening process and found out she was a strong match and was able to donate.
Being a sibling doesn't guarantee a donor match, said Sandy Siegel, R.N., Hamot's kidney transplant coordinator.
"A lot of close family members aren't a close match," Siegel said. "It has nothing to do with age, either. It's all about antibodies and blood type."
The donor and recipient surgeries were scheduled at Hamot for Aug. 27. The Jewell family arrived at the hospital early that morning.
"I'm very proud of both of my children," said their mother, Nadine Jewell. "It's a very selfless thing for Courtney to do."
The two siblings have always been close, growing up together in in Warren County. They still talk to each other on the phone every other day.
"It was just the two of us growing up," Matthew Jewell said. "We didn't have anyone else to play with, growing up in the sticks."
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The siblings spent a few hours with each other that morning before they were taken to their respective hospital rooms.
Matthew Jewell saw his sister as she was wheeled down the hallway to get prepped for her surgery.
"He waved to me as I wheeled by," Courtney Jewell said.
Both surgeries went smoothly. Courtney Jewell's donated kidney was working even before surgeons closed her brother's incisions.
They saw each other the next day in Matthew Jewell's intensive care unit room.
"I went in my wheelchair to see him," Courtney Jewell said. "He looked tired, but cheerful and happy."
Both siblings were discharged within days and are living together for the next few weeks at Matthew Jewell's home near Russell.
It's a bit like the old days, growing up in Warren County. But in one way, the two siblings are closer now.
"I don't know if words can describe the chance she has given me to live a better, fuller life," Matthew Jewell said. "I can never repay her."
Contact David Bruce at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.