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‘Brothers for life’: Two men who were once strangers now bonded by kidney donation

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Mitchell Salas, 30, center, embraces the man who saved his life when Matthew Thompson, 32, a Good Samaritan organ donor at Intermountain Medical Center generously donated his kidney to him. The two men are now "brothers for life" in the words of Salas who has battled kidney troubles since he was a baby. The two, who are still in the hospital met for the first time on Friday, March 29, 2019. Mitchell's parents Nancy and Willie Salas, at left, exclaimed "thank you for giving life back to my boy."

Two Utah men who were complete strangers to one another are now forever connected by a donated kidney.

Earlier this week, Mitchell Salas, 30, of Woods Cross, received a kidney from living donor Matthew Thompson, 32, of Stansbury Park.

Salas has had kidney problems since he was an baby. He has been in and out of hospitals for almost 30 years and has spent the last three years on dialysis. More than three years ago, a battle with testicular cancer briefly bumped him off the donation list, but Salas gained a new lease on life when the call finally came.

“Are you sure? Are you serious?” Salas said when he heard from an Intermountain Medical Center transplant coordinator about the available kidney from a live donor.

A lot of good Samaritan donors don’t meet the recipient, but Salas wanted the opportunity to say thank you.

“[N]ot all superheroes wear capes and this guy has literally saved my life,” Salas said.

For Thompson, the idea of organ donation started after hearing a motivational speaker talk about donating a kidney to his brother.

“I’m helping someone who needs help and to me this is really no different that helping a neighbor who needs help unloading the groceries," Thompson said.

“We are brothers for life,” Salas said, wiping aways tears.

During the last three years Intermountain Medical teams have performed 80 living kidney donation surgeries, seven were Good Samaritan, non-directed altruistic donations.