Alana is like any other student at Stony Brook University. At least, that’s how she looks on the surface.
But when she was 12, she was diagnosed with Lupus, an autoimmune disease that makes her body attack itself.
When she was just 20, she began experiencing more pain than usual from her condition. Doctors told her soon afterwards that she needed a hip replacement. But this wasn’t the end of her struggles.
Soon, the disease caused her congestive heart failure. She had to have a pacemaker put in. Not long afterwards, she went into kidney failure.
But Alana kept her head up, despite having to be hooked up to a dialysis machine every night for ten hours.
Her entire family tested to see if they were a good match to be a kidney donor. None of them were.
Alana tried to live her life as normal. She even signed up for Tinder, a dating app. She met Lori in August.
The two went on two dates, and were really hitting it off. Alana, not wanting to hide anything, brought up her disease to Lori, including the fact that she desperately needed a kidney donor.
Lori quickly agreed to go get tested.
In secret, she carried on not only the initial test, but several other tests, including a CAT scan, a physical, and lab work.
Then, she surprised Alana with the news: she was a match.
The two weren’t even “officially dating” when Lori told Alana she was a match. But the donation has brought the two together.
“Alana is just a good person who deserves a functioning kidney, and I have two,” says Lori. “The fact that she’s beautiful and hysterical and I love her very much was just a bonus.”
Watch the heartwarming surprise here:
