• Tweet
• Share
• Email
• Print

WAUKESHA - A young girl is getting a second chance thanks to the kindness of a stranger. On Tuesday, Barb Huff will donate one of her kidneys to a young girl she doesn't even know. TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Michael George sat down with Huff and 14-year-old Laura Schaper on the night before their surgeries. As Schaper received her dialysis on Monday night, she hoped it would be the last time. Last year, she was diagnosed with an incredibly rare disease. "I have microscopic polyangiitis. I can't really spell it, but it's an auto-immune disease. It attacked my kidneys and my lungs. My lungs are better, but my kidneys are kaput," Schaper said. Laura needed new kidneys, but no one in her family was a match. Then, out of nowhere, Barb Huff, the wife of Laura's pastor, stepped forward. She had never even met Laura before. "One of the questions we asked when we were going through this was, 'Well, why do we have two kidneys?' I just came up with, 'So we can donate one,' you know?" Huff said. After months of tests, doctors were amazed to learn that Huff was a match, even though she isn't related to Laura. Barb knew she was doing the right thing. "What about tomorrow, are you nervous?" reporter Michael George asked. "Uh-uh. Nope, I'm not. Besides just knowing that this is a kind of God-appointed event for me, I have so many people praying for me," Huff said. If all goes well, Laura will have her normal life back just in time to start high school. She can't wait to get to know the person who's giving her a second chance. "Barb, I'm thanking you a lot. You're doing the greatest thing in the world. I love you," Schaper said. The surgery will be at Children's Hospital on Tuesday. Both Huff and Schaper want to encourage as many people as possible to sign up as organ donors so more lives can be saved.