Uber driver donates kidney to his passenger on the way back from dialysis
If you needed your faith in humanity restored today, look no further than Uber driver Tim Letts.
Letts is a 33-year-old Army veteran who now lives in Germany, but two years ago he was working as an Uber driver around Cape May County, New Jersey.
Had he stayed in the area he normally worked in, he might never have got the ride request that came in from Bill Sumiel. But that day he just so happened to be many miles north in the area, and so was able to collect Sumiel from his dialysis appointment and drive him back to his house in Salem, New Jersey.
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Luckily for Sumiel, Letts turned out to be of the chattier variety of Uber drivers, and the pair struck up a conversation during the journey.
Per ABC6 News, Sumiel explained: "On the car ride I tell him of my dilemma."
Sumiel had suffered from kidney failure after having developed diabetes decades earlier, and he was told he needed a new kidney as soon as possible.
"About halfway home after talking the whole way and slowly becoming friends, Tim tells me that 'I think God must have put you in my car'," Sumiel recalled.
The reason for this assumption quickly became clear, as Letts went on to offer Sumiel his kidney.
"He says, 'If you'll take my name and number, I'll give a kidney to you," Sumiel recalled. "I was shaking so hard I couldn't even write down his name and number."
It's a lot more than you'd ever expect to get from an Uber driver, but Sumiel wasn't about to pass up the offer. They determined they were a match for a transplant, and consequently underwent a successful operation at Christiana Hospital.
Sumiel has described Letts as giving him 'the gift of life', adding that he's 'so fortunate' to have been given that gift.
"I can almost live my life back to normal, and this work (at the University of Delaware's Exercise clinic for renal rehab) is getting me closer to that every day," he said.
"I know miracles have happened in the past. Maybe they never happened to me, maybe they have. But now I really have those beliefs reinforced."
It's now been more than a year since the transplant took place, and Sumiel continues his rehab twice a week.
But a new kidney wasn't the only thing Sumiel gained from the Uber ride that day, as he and Letts are now lifelong friends. Even after the driver moved to Germany, he plans to stay in touch with the new owner of his kidney through Facebook.
If that doesn't deserve a five-star rating, I don't know what does.
Emily Brown