Seeking Organ Donor Online

After finding the ideal gift for one brother on Craigs List, a puppy, Debbie Diamond decided to try her luck again. She posted a listing on the website seeking the perfect present for her other brother a kidney.
"I thought Id take a shot," said Debbie, a resident of Bayside. An avid user of Craigs List, an Internet site for classified ads, Debbie had found jobs, sold and bought various items, even gotten a brief role on a reality TV show. When her 42-year-old brother, Neil, was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer, Debbie put up an ad for a kidney after the family tried unsuccessfully to find a transplant match.
Neil, an athletic father of two young children who doesnt drink or smoke, was shocked when he found he would need to undergo dialysis for the rest of his life without a new kidney. With his December 21 surgery date looming, but still no kidney, Debbie posted a message on Craigs List titled, "A long shot but worth a try."
Five people replied at first, but only one of them with the necessary Type-A blood remained a possibility until the story appeared Monday in the Daily News. After a flood of media attention, the family started receiving calls from eager transplant volunteers.
"Just tell me where and when," said one father of seven from Manhattan according to Debbie. Several others, including a paramedic from New Jersey, were among the callers who also offered up their kidneys.
Others who heard about the story were worried that searching for organs online is unethical.
Debbie has responded to their criticism defiantly. "Hopefully Im pioneering something new." She would like to see her idea spark a new movement of patients seeking donors on the Internet. "Everyones behind closed doors, suffering," she said. "Maybe well start something new, start people networking."
sarah@queenscourier.com