25-Year-Old Missouri Woman Secretly Donated Kidney to Father Despite His Objections

A Missouri woman hatched a nine-month-long plot to donate a kidney to her ailing father over his repeated objections.

Delayne Ivanowski, 25, told ABC News she couldn’t stand to see her father, John, spending hours a day four days a week on dialysis after he was diagnosed with kidney disease. Delayne, who works as a nurse in St. Louis, Missouri, wanted to give him one of her own kidneys, but he was adamant this wasn’t an option.

However, she was equally determined to get him the transplant he desperately needed.

“I was like, ‘I’m going to do it. I don’t care how mad he is at me. I don’t care if he kicks me out of the house or hates me or doesn’t say a word to me for the rest of my life,'” she told ABC News. “At least he’ll be living a good life and not hooked up to a machine.”

Dr. Jason Wellen, who treated John Ivanowski, explained to the outlet that over 100,000 people need a kidney transplant, so Delayne was John’s only hope of getting one without first living on dialysis for years. Wellen also noted that with proper screening, the risk to donors is minimal.

Still, having lost a son to cancer 16 years earlier, John explained to the outlet he was unwilling to allow his only daughter to do anything that stood to jeopardize her health – now or in the future.

Unbeknownst to John, Delayne began taking the steps to donate her kidney, which included extensive medical tests, ABC News reported. In total, the process took about nine months.

Then the big day came, John recalled to ABC News:

“They called me at work and said, ‘We’ve got an anonymous donor,’ and I about dropped the phone and thought are you kidding me?,” he recalled. “People can be on the [kidney waiting] list for five, six, seven, eight years and go through dialysis for that long, and I just couldn’t believe it.”

Delayne posted a TikTok video of her walking into her father’s room in a hospital gown after his successful procedure. 

@delayne_i watch my dad find out that I was his anonymous kidney donor after keeping it a secret for 8 months grab a tissue! ##fyp##kidneydonor ♬ original sound – Delayne

“Oh my God. Are you kidding me?” John can be heard saying, immediately inferring the identity of his mystery donor. 

“It’s ok. It’s fine,” she reassured him as they both begin tearing up.

ABC News reported father and daughter are both doing well. John is no longer on dialysis but will have to take anti-rejection drugs. Having experienced the benefits of the transplant, he has realized that his daughter made the right call.

Delayne, meanwhile, is happy she was able to help her dad even if that meant not always listening to him.

“I’m not good at being told no,” she told ABC News.

You can follow Michael Foster on Twitter at @realmfoster.