
(Photo courtesy Fox 5 NY)
When Alana Duran and Lori Interlicchio swiped right on each other on Tinder, signaling a mutual interest, they never realized their match would later be life-saving.
Duran, 25, who suffers from lupus, would eventually need a kidney transplant for which none of her family members were a good fit, Fox 5 NY reported. But Interlicchio, 22, who had met Duran mere weeks before, offered to give the testing a shot.
Doctors’ result was familiar for the couple: “It’s a match.”
The “Today” show reported that Interlicchio shared the news with Duran by modifying the Tinder notification they received when they learned they were a match on the popular dating app. The poster she made that mimicked the alert read: “You and Lori have no antibodies against each other,” with an option to either “Accept kidney” or “Stay on Waitinglist.”
“Who knew that when we both swiped right on Tinder that day, that we would be more than just girlfriends but that she would be my kidney donor! It's so funny how things work out,” Duran posted on Facebook in a video about three months ago that had been viewed more than 260,000 times as of Friday morning.
The video shows Duran opening a care package from Interlicchio— including her favorite candy, Red Vines, index cards for studying at Stony Brook University, where Duran attends school, plus a mug, lotion and socks. But at the bottom of the box, Duran finds four cards with personalized messages— and then the big reveal. Duran immediately breaks into tears of joy, saying, “Oh, my God! This is amazing. I have to call my mom!”
Now, less than a week after the transplant surgery at Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island, New York, the women are also sporting matching scars.
Fox 5 NY reported Duran is no longer on dialysis and is healing. She and Interlicchio hope their story inspires other people to donate.