Stranger Donates Kidney To Lake Co. Board Member

LAKE COUNTY, IL — Longtime Lake County board member Bonnie Thompson Carter has received the gift of life from a stranger who donated her his kidney.

In August 2019, Carter was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer. The aggressive cancer ended up injuring her kidneys, leading to kidney failure. Carter, 65, of Ingleside, was placed on the deceased kidney transplant list.

But, it typically takes between five and eight years to receive a kidney from a deceased donor. Doctors told Carter, who spent 20 years on the Lake County Board, that she only had three to five years to live on dialysis. So, her family and friends sprung into action to find a living donor.

• Lake County Public Servant Needs Kidney Donation

They launched a website and put up 250 "you can save a life" signs across northern Illinois. They also scoured social media for potential donors.

"I do not have that long to live," Carter wrote on the Bonnie's Gift of Life website. "Due to this bleak situation, I am reaching out to anyone willing to become a living donor, to donate a kidney and give me the gift of life."

"I want to live. I want to grow old with my husband Tom; I want to enjoy our children and their families; I want the joy of watching my 10 grandchildren grow; I want to live out the purpose of my life with my family, friends, faith and community sharing joy and laughter with others," she wrote.

The effort led to 64 potential donors, who were whittled down to eight candidates. Northwestern Memorial Hospital conducted tests on the candidates before Carter selected a 33-year-old father from Kirkland as the donor.

Rob Kesler found out about Carter's situations after seeing one of Bonnie's Gift of Life signs when he was sent to Spring Grove while on "light work duty" for his company, Mediacom Stream, after he was in a car crash.

"Had that person not slammed into me at my job placing me on lights duty, I never would have been in Spring Grove to see that sign," he said. "I have three reasons why I'm doing this: Life is too precious, there is no greater gift you can give another person and I don't need two kidneys, so I have an extra one to give."

The new kidney could extend Carter’s life by decades.

"I am so grateful to have him," Carter said. "He is so kind, he has a wonderful sense of humor, and he is armored with a devotion to help others. I'm so blessed he came into my life. He now becomes a part of my extended family."