When you see something unfolding, you have to be quick if you’re going to take action. The other day a maniacal driver sped through several lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic in a rush to get nowhere fast. Despite the potentially deadly maneuver, the driver only got one car ahead of where they were. But 911 received a number of calls about the incident. People acted when they saw the threat. And because of that, the police tracked down the reckless driver and took him in.
But when a young student at the Grand Canyon University, saw a man in a strange shirt during her visit to Costco, she knew that it was up to her to take action. She was at the Arizona wholesaler when Karen Aguayo came across a man who attracted her attention. He operated a motorized shopping cart. And while she would never have thought twice about the man who needed the electric cart to shop the store, she did a double take when she saw the shirt he was wearing.The black t-shirt had a profound message on the back. And it left Karen in shock. And for several minutes, she and her friends continued to whisper about it.
67-year-old Robert Duran and his wife were familiar with the reactions his t-shirt garnered from the general public. Because most people stare daggers at him because of his shirt, Duran has learned to ignorer it because he believes it is his first amendment to wear such an article of clothing.
The shirt is black but has bold white letters on the back that no one can ignore. And Duran wants people to notice and hopefully respond with what he wants because he is desperate for help.
Duran is going through kidney failure. He endures dialysis three times each week for four hours each time. And finally, after a long wait, Duran has been placed on an organ transplant list. He has stage five kidney disease.When Karen saw the man with the kidney failure shirt, she could not help but stare at the white words printed on it.
“Kidney donor needed, Type B+. Ask me how.”
It is a simple message. But Karen knew that if she could somehow act on the message, she could save the man’s life. Being a Good Samaritan, Karen halted her shopping experience and asked the man about his situation. Although she could not donate her own kidney, she got Duran’s information and then snapped a photo of his shirt. She then shared the image on Twitter to drum up interest around social media.
In a matter of days, the tweet attracted attention from all over the country. It has been retweeted 260,000 times. And people felt the power of the message just as Karen and her friends did while browsing the aisles in Costco.
“Once I read his shirt, I felt something in my heart,” Karen told AZ Central. “I decided to post it on social media because I thought maybe someone out there that has a Twitter can donate theirs or just help with a simple retweet to find him a donor.”
Hopefully, someone can help save Duran’s life.