Facebook has become a necessity for most of us in our daily lives. It is how we connect to our family and friends in distant areas or even make new friends in our networks. Carlos Sanchez and Mayor April Capone Almon of Connecticut were just that, friends on Facebook who knew each other just slightly from common friends and gatherings in the small town of East Haven, CT.
Carlos Sanchez’s kidney had been failing due to his diabetes. The 44 year old father of two children was at the end of his rope once all of his family were disqualified as possible matches. At the prompting of his doctor, he made a status post to his Facebook account asking if any of his friends would be willing to be tested as possible donors. Reluctant at first, he was surprised by how quickly he received a response. His post was seen almost immediately by April Capone Almon, the local city mayor of East Haven. In a private message to Carlos, she wrote saying she wanted to be tested.
“I thought she was kidding,” Carlos reported to AP News. The mayor of East Haven would offer me her kidney?” Mayor Almon was in fact very serious. “I really felt from the very beginning that I was going to be a match and a donor. I don’t know why, but I just knew it.”
Being sure not to compromise the donor’s health in any way, shape or form, Mayor Almon consulted with doctors as she underwent a battery of tests to make sure she was in good enough health to undergo the transplant. During this time, the Mayor and the Sanchez family grew close, waiting for the final okay from the doctors that everything was a go for the surgery. On April 8th, they became truly like family once the surgery was complete. Up for reelection during this ordeal, Mayor Almon did her best to keep everything very quiet during the reelection, not wanting to bring it into politics.
“I don’t want people to see this as something larger than life,” she told AP News, “There’s nothing special about me.” Carlos has a different perspective on the issue.
“…I consider her my angel. And on this day, and I said from now on, for the rest of my life, she’ll be my little baby sister, you know…” he shared with NPR during a recent interview. Both of them are doing wonderfully. Mayor Almon is experiencing some discomfort still; however it does not seem to bother her. “He calls me his little sister, and I’m proud to be,” she told WVIT. “It’s just a happy thing. It’s wonderful to see and his family so happy.”
