Theresa Crockett needed a kidney, and she was running out of ordinary ways to ask for one. So she made a sign. She brought it to a New Kids on the Block concert in Anaheim in May 2022, handed it to Donnie Wahlberg, and hoped somebody, somewhere, might see it and come forward.
That single act of hope eventually connected Crockett with Christina Meyer, a family medicine doctor from New Berlin, Wisconsin, who would become her living kidney donor. The two women eventually connected through the New Kids fan community. During a 2022 fan cruise, Crockett displayed a banner about her need for a kidney on the ship's Lido deck.
A Disease That Runs in the Family
Crockett had polycystic kidney disease, a genetic condition that causes fluid-filled cysts to multiply on the kidneys until organ function collapses, according to the Globe's reporting. The disease affects roughly 500,000 Americans, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. By the time Crockett qualified for a transplant, her kidney function had fallen to 15 percent, the Globe reported, and she was told a spot on the waiting list could mean a decade-long wait for a deceased donor organ.
Wahlberg publicized Crockett's story after she gave him her sign in Anaheim. A later banner about her need for a kidney caught Meyer's attention. The family doctor signed up as a possible donor, was later matched to Crockett, and the two spoke by Zoom with Wahlberg before their shared surgery date, the newspaper reported.
Twin Surgeries, a Thousand Miles Apart
Twin Surgeries, a Thousand Miles Apart On August 31, 2023, Meyer, according to the Globe, underwent donor surgery in Wisconsin before her kidney was shipped across the country. Because Crockett received her transplant before ever starting dialysis, her outcome fits a category doctors consider especially favorable: preemptive transplants make up only about 2.5% of kidney transplants nationwide, despite offering meaningfully better long-term survival odds, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
The timing of Crockett's recovery, though, was followed by a new effort to help her sister, Sandy Henson, who also needed a transplant.
How One Gift Led to Another
A national paired exchange system lets an incompatible donor give a kidney to a stranger in return for prioritizing a loved one for a future match — a mechanism the National Kidney Registry says can open transplants to pairs who otherwise couldn't help each other directly. For families facing that problem, the exchange can provide another route to finding a compatible kidney.
The stakes behind that kind of search are steep nationally. More than 86% of the over 100,000 Americans on the organ transplant waitlist are waiting specifically for a kidney, and deceased-donor patients typically wait three to five years, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. Those figures help explain why living donors like Meyer matter so much to recipients.
From Recovery Room to Recording Studio Reunions
Wahlberg promised to cover Crockett's future cruise, according to the Globe. The story's connection to the band also extended beyond the transplant itself, into its concert world.
Wahlberg has publicized Crockett's story. Crockett and Meyer also appeared together on The Kelly Clarkson Show to tell their story on national television.
A Legislative Push Behind the Personal Story
Crockett's transplant also raises broader policy questions about support for living donors. For donors who give up a kidney and weeks of recovery time for someone they met through a fan community, practical protections are one consideration.
