Facebook post connects Forsyth neighbors for life-saving kidney transplant

A Facebook post in Forsyth County turned two neighbors who had lived doors apart for years into a match that gave Greg Jacobson a chance at life-saving surgery. Cindy Woodward stepped forward after seeing the plea, and the donation was completed at Emory University Hospital.

Jacobson’s need was urgent. He had already received one kidney transplant at age 29, and that kidney lasted 25 years while he survived pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, a stroke and Lyme disease. By 2024, he needed another transplant, and his family believed time was running out if they waited for a deceased donor.

Christine Jacobson said doctors told the family a deceased-donor kidney could mean waiting years, and the national numbers show why they turned to social media. The Health Resources and Services Administration says 103,223 people were on the transplant waiting list and 13 people died each day waiting for an organ transplant. Kidney patients make up about 86% of that list. 11Alive reported the average wait for a deceased-donor kidney in the United States was about eight years.

Woodward recognized the fear immediately. Her late husband, Woody, had needed a heart transplant and died after being on the heart transplant list, giving her a personal understanding of what transplant families endure. She decided to be evaluated, and doctors confirmed she was a match. When the match was confirmed, both families were overwhelmed.

The transplant reflects how rare living donation still is and why it matters so much. About 6,500 living-donor transplants happen each year in the United States, and living donation can allow patients to receive an organ faster, often before they become seriously ill. Emory Healthcare says its transplant surgeons have completed more than 10,000 transplants, including more than 7,600 kidney transplants and more than 1,600 live-donor kidney transplants. Emory also says Georgia’s first kidney transplant was performed there in 1966.

For the Jacobsons, the stakes were personal and immediate. Greg Jacobson’s family said the transplant could give him a real chance to keep living long enough for a moment they feared might never come, walking his daughter down the aisle. In a system where thousands wait and time often runs short, one neighbor’s decision changed everything.