Mayor Donates Kidney To Facebook Friend

Mayor Donates Kydney to Facebook friend

HARTFORD, Conn. — Politicians long ago discovered the uses of Facebook. East Haven Mayor April Capone Almon found something else there: a constituent who needed her kidney. Capone Almon, 35, had more than 1,600 "friends" on Facebook last year when she saw one of them, Carlos Sanchez, post a status update saying his friends and relatives had all been tested and couldn't donate a kidney. She knew him casually through activities and friends in the New Haven suburb of East Haven, but they weren't so close that she had heard he was ill. Sanchez, a 44-year-old father whose kidneys were failing because of diabetes, sent out the request on Facebook only hesitantly and on his doctor's suggestion. He worried people might pity him – and certainly hadn't pinned his hopes on finding a donor that way. He didn't have long to wait. Capone Almon was the first person to respond. "I sent him a private message and just said, 'Hey, I'll try. I'll get tested,'" Capone Almon said Wednesday. "I really felt from the very beginning that I was going to be a match and a donor. I don't know why, but I just knew it."

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Well she's got my vote. What a selfless loving act. We need more politicians that actually give a damn.

“Yeah, right. This was an election stunt.”

Weeeell, not really. It’s true that she was running for re-election at the time, but she didn’t publicize the gift. It is only being revealed now, well after the election. It did get her Sanchez’s vote, but the election wasn’t that close.

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Indeed a great act, she really looks after her people.

Here is her inaugural speech from 2007, very involved.

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reply to post by Grey Magic


Even if it was an election stunt, it's a pretty damn big risk to take. Either way, what a cool story.

reply to post by Raustin


That's why I wanted to know more and found that article and speech.

If you watch that speech you'll notice how much heart this woman has, I am sure this was no election stunt but a rare act of human compassion.

Applause for her.

And thank you for posting good news on ATS, we're always short of that.

reply to post by Grey Magic


Thanks again for digging up that info. I'll visit the links tonight.