GREENFIELD — Ask and you just might receive.
Following two years of publicly appealing for a kidney donation, western Massachusetts native Jeremy Goldsher has a new lease on life after connecting with a living donor, Greenfield resident Laura Josephs. The two 30-somethings underwent surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston two months ago and have since forged a bond many can only imagine.
“It was quite an incredible story, how long of a journey we had,” Goldsher said in an interview on Wednesday. “To me, it was completely out of the blue.”
The co-founder of Greenspace CoWork was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease, a result of the genetic autoimmune disorder IgA nephropathy, or IgAN, in June 2023 after six or seven years of quietly battling fatigue, body aches, weight fluctuation, gout attacks and nausea. But he did not learn about his condition until a camping trip in New Hampshire, where he received a call from his doctor’s office about blood test results. He went straight to the emergency room at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, where he expected to stay a few hours but did not leave for three weeks.
Goldsher started dialysis sessions, which help the body remove extra fluid and waste products from the blood, but this is not a permanent solution, forcing him to go public and appeal to his community via Facebook and articles in the Greenfield Recorder in 2023 and 2024. He had been in a wheelchair for a time and was once confined to his couch. At one point, a medicine prescribed to him for the kidney failure caused internal bleeding.
Josephs can’t recall if it was the initial Facebook post or the newspaper articles that first got her attention, but she soon decided to get screened for a kidney donation. She was assigned a donor advocate, who explained to her that organ donations are not recommended for relatively new parents because they will be unable to lift their children for about two months after the surgery.
The idea fell by the wayside until she was again inspired to pursue the effort.
“I went more gung-ho into the whole screening process,” she said while sitting in Greenspace CoWork, across the table from the man whose life she saved.
The two connected online and in person, and the transplant was performed on June 10.
“I had a phenomenal team,” Goldsher said before looking at Josephs and referencing her minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. “You had a robot team!”
“I think people might think being a living donor is harder than it is,” said Josephs, whose work is in-home health care.
Josephs, 38, and Goldsher, 36, had possibly crossed paths prior to their medical journey — they floated in similar orbits, as Goldsher’s family owns Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield and Josephs is a piano player and artist — but they were not acquainted with each other.
The transplant was even more of a relief for Goldsher, as last year he had a donor lined up until doctors found some health complications at the 11th hour that disqualified them. A family member was also forced to drop out of the organ donation process.
Goldsher’s mother, Fran, said she and the rest of her family can now breathe a sigh of relief.
“We are beyond thrilled. We’re fatigued, but so grateful,” she said. “It’s just a blessing that science has come this far and that people are compassionate enough and that our community is so responsive.”
She referred to the donation as a miracle and said she is immensely thankful to Josephs.
Jeremy Goldsher, who grew up in Greenfield and moved to Ashfield during the pandemic, said he now wants to help the kidney disease community by working with Josephs to create a nonprofit foundation to benefit “the good and the brave, like Laura.”
Anyone who is willing to be screened for a kidney or liver donation can visit mghlivingdonors.org. They can also visit the National Kidney Foundation’s website at kidney.org. Blood type is not an important factor.
Goldsher also mentioned people can still contact him and share their stories and comments at jeremygkidney@gmail.com.