Marlborough Woman Set To Donate Kidney After Chance Encounter

MARLBOROUGH, MA — A miraculous encounter at a Marlborough department store last summer may end this week in kidney surgery.

On Tuesday, Marlborough resident Debbie Munley will head to Mass General Hospital in Boston to donate a kidney to Hudson resident Gail Weisberg, who has spent her life with kidney disease, and years on a donor list.

Munley was at the Marlborough Target last summer when she saw a sign on Weisberg's car seeking an "angel" to donate a kidney.

“I happened to see that sign. And I’m like, 'Best friend needs a kidney.' And I’m like, ‘Hmm, I can do that.’ I thought twice about it, like, ‘Is it crazy? Am I nuts?’” Munley told Boston 25 in January.

This week's procedure will be the second attempt for Munley and Weisberg. A transplant scheduled in February was called off after doctors discovered Munley had a heart disorder, the station reported.

On Monday, Munley highlighted that the transplant will come just a few days after the end of April, which is National Donate Life Month. The nonprofit Donate Life America works to increase the number of organ and tissue donations in the U.S., and operates a donor registry.

Weisberg's friends have set up a GoFundMe fundraiser in an attempt to help pay off some of the medical costs that could come after the transplant.