Southern California teacher donates kidney to friend in desperate need of a transplant: ‘I want you to live life’

HAWTHORNE, Calif. () — Most people in need of life-saving kidney transplants don’t know the person who donates to them. But that wasn’t the case when a local teacher donated her organ to save the life of one of her friends.

“It’s a profound gift that I get to wake up every day and think, ‘I’m now 50, and maybe I have 50 more in me,’ and it’s because of you, and I do love you, and I’m very grateful for you.” Maile Bellosi told her friend, Renee Watson.

“I want you to live life,” Watson said. “You’re an amazing person, and you know that I love you, and I just want you to keep doing life.”

Bellosi suffered from kidney failure several years ago due to an inherited disease that affected her father and her siblings. Her dad and other family members all underwent kidney transplants.

Now, she was in desperate need of a transplant, but her husband failed to be a match.

As Bellosi got weaker and weaker, she dreaded the possibility of complete kidney failure, forcing her to undergo grueling dialysis treatments.

“The idea of trying to avoid dialysis, I needed to bring my own donor to the table. Finding a living donor is really the only option if you want to avoid dialysis,” Bellosi said.

Watson, a school teacher like Bellosi, eagerly volunteered to give her friend a kidney. She was a match, and the transplant was a success.

“I feel like it was the easiest decision I ever made, but at the same time, it wasn’t a decision that was made lightly,” Watson said.

Both of the teachers sat down with Eyewitness News at Watson’s home in Hawthorne, seeing each other for the first time since the transplant roughly a month ago.

Watson was overjoyed to see her close friend smiling and healthy.

“I think she is such a good human. We cannot lose good people like her,” Watson said.

“To champion Renee and the gift she gave me, and highlight that, because it is a selfless act,” Bellosi said.

The pair of friends really didn’t want to do the interview because they’re so humble, but something inside of them saw the need to provide hope to others who might need a kidney and to inspire others to become donors.

“There’s 90,000 people in America who need a kidney transplant that are waiting and lingering on these lists, and there’s not nearly the number of kidneys that are being donated,” Bellosi said.