“If I had three kidneys I would give another one," Jenny Joyner said
Credit: USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn
NEED TO KNOW
- Social media brought together a kidney transplant recipient with their donor
- Stacy Hobson, who was experiencing chronic kidney disease, saw her life changed after Jenny Joyner saw a friend’s Facebook post about “the opportunity to be a living donor”
- “I just feel there’s no amount of words that I could say to thank her enough,” Hobson said
A social media post changed the lives of two Tennessee women.
Stacy Hobson was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and high blood pressure, and had been on a transplant wait list for 18 months. In May 2025, she decided to skip dialysis to live life and travel instead, she told local outlet WMC in an April 24 interview.
“I'm like, if I can't do the things that I love, it's not living for me,” she said, noting that her physician warned against it. “And [my doctor] told me, ‘You're not going to be here,' and I made peace with God.”
While on vacation in Greece, she felt complete calm.
“I just prayed, I asked God, I said, ‘Lord, you know what I want. You know what I want. I pray that my will aligns with yours,'” Hobson told the outlet.
Shortly after arriving back home in Memphis, staff at Methodist Transplant Institute contacted Hobson with good news. She had a match.
“I literally screamed,” Hobson said.
She and her donor, Jenny Joyner, underwent surgery in August 2025. Although Hobson wrote Joyner a letter after the procedure, they didn't meet face-to-face until that November once they both recovered. Footage of their first meeting showed the two emotionally embracing as their loved ones gathered around, also holding back tears.
Joyner, an admissions counselor for the University of Mississippi at the DeSoto, has three kids, including a son who is a high school senior, a 10-year-old daughter and a middle child who has Down syndrome. She and her family also have four dogs and a cat.
Joyner told WMC that she never thought about being a donor until a friend of hers posted a message on Facebook.
“Facebook and God, to be honest,” Joyner said. “So, a friend of mine posted on Facebook about the opportunity to be a living donor, and she knew someone who needed a kidney. So, for whatever reason that day I was like, ‘Huh! I could do that.' ”
Using a living kidney donor can shorten the wait time of those in need, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Those who receive a kidney from someone who is alive also have “a less than 1% risk” of kidney failure after the surgery, according to the American Medical Association.
There was weeks of compatibility testing for Joyner before she matched with Hobson. After staff at Methodist Transplant Institute gave them the green light, everything worked out just fine.
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Hobson said her prayers had been answered.
“I've been praying and I just felt like it was God that heard my prayer and placed it on her heart,” she said of Joyner.
After their emotional meeting, Hobson reflected on how much Joyner's donation meant to her.
“I just thanked her from the bottom of my heart because I just feel there's no amount of words that I could say to thank her enough,” Hobson told WMC. “I'm like, if she don't know, she's my new best friend. She got a new sister.”
Joyner said she was more than happy to help, telling the news station, “If I had three kidneys I would give another one.”
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