Bill Sumiel needed a kidney donor. During an Uber ride in New Jersey, he told his driver about the wait.
Timothy “Tim” Letts listened, then offered to see whether he could help by donating a kidney himself.
The conversation became the beginning of a medical evaluation, a transplant and a friendship between two people who had met through a ride request.
A conversation on the journey home
According to ChristianaCare’s April 2023 account, Sumiel was returning home from the Vascular Institute in Vineland, New Jersey, after treatment for a blood clot.
During the roughly 40-minute ride, he explained that he had spent more than three years on the kidney transplant list.
Letts, an Army veteran from Cape May, offered his name and telephone number and said he wanted to donate. Sumiel recalled being so shaken by the offer that writing down the details was difficult.
Following through beyond the offer
The two entered ChristianaCare’s transplant program. Letts underwent a months-long evaluation before the donation could proceed.
The hospital described medical testing and meetings with the transplant team, including an independent advocate for the donor. Letts said he felt informed and free from pressure throughout the process.
Their surgeries took place at ChristianaCare on December 7, 2021.
An offer made in a car had become a carefully assessed donation involving a medical team and the sustained commitment of both men.
A friendship beyond the transplant
In Localish’s January 2023 follow-up, Sumiel said he felt well about a year after surgery and was attending renal rehabilitation at the University of Delaware.
Letts had moved to Germany, but the report described the men as remaining close friends.
Those details reflect their circumstances in the published follow-up, rather than a new report on their health today.
The enduring human part of the story is the follow-through. Letts did more than respond kindly to a passenger’s difficult situation: he stayed involved through the evaluation and donation process.
For another story about the people behind a transplant, read about the flight that carried a donor heart to a baby in 1986.
Sources: ChristianaCare’s April 27, 2023 patient story and Localish’s January 11, 2023 report.