Daughter's TikTok Account Gets Father A New Kidney In PA

ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PA —Ryan Neve has a lot to be thankful for as this holiday season approaches. But his list might be different from all of ours.

Neve is thankful for his 10-year-old daughter Daniella. He's thankful for her TikTok account. And he's thankful that the account brought him a kidney donor.

Since April 2021, the real estate appraiser who lives 20 minutes south of Pittsburgh has experienced pain from kidneys that are functioning at 4 percent capacity. He often receives dialysis treatments —three days a week for four hours each session —that put a damper on spending the holidays with his wife, daughter Daniella and 13-year-old son Robert.

But not this year.

"I'm excited for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas," Neve, 45, told Patch during a phone interview Wednesday as he was getting dialysis treatment. "I'm absolutely re-energized."

He's also circled Jan. 5 on his calendar. That's the day he's scheduled for surgery to get his new kidney from an unspecified donor who he hopes to get in contact with one day.

That donor came forward through Daniella's TikTok account, which Neve said her uncle helped set up so relatives could watch her softball games.

On that account, there's Daniella posing with her softball team members and family and friends, shooting hoops and taking swings in a batting cage, among her softball highlights.

And then there's one post in which she and her father hold up a sign that says "My Daddy Needs A Kidney." WATCH THE VIDEO

That post went viral Neve said. Daniella has 96.6K followers on TikTok and 4.9M Likes - as in millions!

"It blew me away," Neve said. "There's a lot of negative connotations with social media. But in doing something like this, when people saw it, they wanted to help. I never expected it"

For Daniella and most kids, social media is something that they grew up with now, "picking up a cell phone instead of a newspaper," her father said.

As Ryan finds the strength each day to get through treatments, he is inspired by his daughter, who might be even stronger.

"I don't think most kids her age can grasp the levity of it," he said. "But she just jumped in to take action instead of crying about it. She's a fighter. She wouldn't let this beat us."