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Lisa & Dan Summers

Placer County “transplants” Lisa and Dan Summers’ compatibility extends beyond matters of the heart. After meeting on eHarmony, falling in love, and marrying, Dan learned he would need dialysis and a donated kidney.

Lisa hoped she would be a match, but the odds were stacked against her. According to Dan’s doctors, the chances of a spouse being a near-perfect match are one in 100,000. But after completing the extensive testing process, she was able to tell Dan: “We’re a match! I get to give you a kidney!”

They want to share with the world that a live donor establishes a much better outcome for recipients rather than a cadaver organ. “A cadaver kidney is only expected to last three to five years, while a live matched donor kidney [can] last 10-20,” Dan says. Additionally, becoming a live donor causes very little inconvenience and impact to your everyday life. “Less than one percent of live donors regret the decision, and after doing so, your remaking kidney grows and functions at a higher percentage,” Lisa shares. “I wish I had more kidneys to give, because I’d do it every month if I could.” —Susan Wallace

Q&A What comes to you naturally? Lisa: Talking to people and putting myself in their shoes. How Donation Saves Lives Dan: Planning, organizing, and getting things done. • One person can save eight lives and enhance 75 others through organ, eye, and tissue donation. What’s your biggest pet peeve? • On average, 150 people are added to the nation’s Lisa: Lying. organ transplant waiting list each day—one every Dan: Messes. 10 minutes. • An average of 22 patients die every day while What are you most proud of? waiting, simply because the organ they needed Lisa: My family and ability to overcome was not donated in time. hardships without becoming hard myself. • Approximately 98 organ transplants take place every day in the United States. • A living donor can provide a kidney or a portion of their liver, lung, pancreas, or intestine to someone in need.

Dan: The family and future that Lisa and I are building.

Best words of wisdom you’ve received? Lisa: “We’ve all got meanness in us, but we all have good in us too, and the only thing worth living for is the good. That’s why we’ve got to make sure we pass it on.”—Where the Heart Is Dan: Travel internationally often when you’re young, as waiting to do it till later results in either never doing it, or seeing it all in bifocals from a bus, which sucks.

SOURCE: Donate Life California, donatelifecalifornia.org. REGISTER TO BE A DONOR AT DONATELIFE.NET.

ESCAPE:

Bed and Netflix (Lisa); New York City (Dan)

MEAL IN TOWN:

Awful Annie’s (Lisa & Dan)

Favorites

GUILTY PLEASURES:

Cheese, chocolate, and the Kardashians (Lisa); “The Cookie” at Bristol Farms (Dan)

MOVIE:

Gone with the Wind (Lisa); It’s a Wonderful Life (Dan)

LOCAL NONPROFIT:

Acres of Hope (Lisa); Placer Food Bank (Dan)