Facing kidney failure and an uncommon blood type, Ishmael Thorns didn’t know what would happen when he turned to TikTok for help finding a kidney donor. “I don’t ever do this – I don’t ask to go viral, but make this go viral – share this post, man. I need a kidney, man.” Thorns c ontinued posting videos, believing the right person would eventually see them. “My kidney donor is out there somewhere man, help link me up.” One of those videos appeared on the TikTok feed of Brandy Laman, a pharmacist who lives near Houston. “He just popped up on my page,” Laman said. She sent Thorns a message offering to donate one of her kidneys. “She’s my hero – my angel – sent straight from God to bless me with a new chance at life,” Thorns said. A few months after that first TikTok message, the two strangers arrived at Methodist Dallas for transplant surgery. They met face-to-face only hours before the operation. For Laman, donating her kidney was an opportunity to change someone’s life. “I just really saw an opportunity to help somebody in a life-changing way,” Laman said. Her decision was also deeply personal. A few years earlier, her husband was diagnosed with leukemia, and a bone marrow transplant from a stranger in Germany saved his life. Laman said donating her kidney gave her the chance to provide that same gift to someone else. “I was just honored to do it – honored that I got this opportunity – that I came across him – it’s been just as much a blessing to me to be able to do this,” Laman said. Dr. Christie Gooden, a transplant surgeon at Methodist Dallas, said stories like theirs are what inspired her to pursue transplant medicine. “This is one of the reasons I went into transplant because of stories like this because there’s so much more we have in common than we don’t,” Gooden said. Two weeks after surgery, Thorns was recovering well and said he plans to keep using TikTok to encourage more people to become living kidney donors. “My plan is to advocate for my fellow kidney warriors – people with kidney disease –,” Thorns said. “I want to be there for my sons and fully appreciate this gift that I’ve been given,” Thorns said. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication. ...read more read less