Fundraiser for Jessica’s Kidney Transplant Featured on 780 WBBM

Woman Raises Surgery Money, To Donate Kidney To Sister

Steve Miller Reporting
(WBBM) - Thanks, perhaps, to the power of the Internet – and a sister’s love – a 25-year-old Chicago area woman is getting a kidney transplant sooner rather than later.

No stranger to hospitals is 25-year-old Jessica Cowin.

She had a heart transplant ten years ago. And now she needs a kidney transplant.

Her 22-year-old sister Amy volunteered to donate one of hers. But Amy says Northwestern Memorial Hospital would not perform the surgery because Jessica’s insurance for transplants had been maxed out ten years ago.

“I figured if we raised at least $100,000, we could give that to them and they could go ahead with it sooner.”

However, a spokeswoman for Northwestern says,  “Jessica was neither denied nor told she would never be transplanted; she was informed that she needed to wait, (because) at the time, the status of her health didn’t warrant immediate transplanting… Jessica and Amy are to be commended for their tenacity and proactive stance in attending to Jessica’s health needs.”

Through Facebook and www.giveforward.org, Amy started raising money.

“Within less than two weeks, we’ve raised $24,000.”

Amy Cowin says Northwestern has agreed to perform the transplant surgery.

“We’ll never know exactly what the tipping point was.”

The fundraising continues for medical expenses. Transplant surgery expected in the coming weeks.