Paramedic Saves Father and Daughter Years Apart

Ohio resident Molly Jones was worried about the possibility of leaving her 15-year-old daughter behind in the event of her death from autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. She posted on Facebook asking someone to consider donating a kidney and her plea reached paramedic Kristi Hadfield, who had been Facebook friends with Molly for 6 years, ever since she saved her father’s life.

Molly’s father John Cunningham, a former marine, checked himself into an ambulance authority where Hadfield was stationed as a paramedic in rural Richie County, West Virginia. John said something wasn’t right, and Hadfield figured he needed to be examined at a hospital about 45 minutes away. John went into cardiac arrest enroute to the hospital and Hadfield restarted his heart with chest compressions.

Later, Hadfield sent Cunningham a friend request on Facebook to see how he was doing—and his daughter Molly also connected with Hadfield. Hadfield said when she saw the post, from a Facebook friend she had never met in person she quickly responded- “How do I figure out if I’m a match?” The two woman soon discovered they were both blood type A+. Once Jones was on the transplant list, Hadfield began trying to donate her kidney, something she said she never imagined doing even though she had the box ticked on her driver’s license.

On December 27th, after weeks of kidney dialysis keeping Jones alive, the transplant was a complete success. Hadfield has saved John Cunningham and now saved his daughter too. “This family has just, gosh, they got a piece of my heart. I get emotionally impacted by the patients that I’ve had and this family was just incredible. My kids are grown and I have grandkids now, but I wanted her to be able to see her daughter grow. I wanted her to be able to hold her grandkids” Hadfield said.