Jacksonville man says he found kidney donor by posting to Facebook in 2020

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — 2020 was a tough year, but for one Jacksonville man, it was the year his life changed for the better.

Eddie Farhat suffered six and a half years with chronic kidney disease, all the while searching for a kidney donor.

”And going to dialysis, of course, three times a week for three and a half hours. I mean that’s time consuming and it drains me,” said Farhat.

He even drove around Jacksonville with a sign on his car, “In need of a kidney, blood type B positive,” and included his phone number.

People even called him, but they weren’t a match.

But last February he posted on Facebook, getting hundreds of shares.

”Roger Higginbotham, he saw it on Facebook,” said Farhat.

Higginbotham, who lives in Clay County, tells Action News Jax he knew Farhat through work, but they hadn’t been in contact recently. He says Eddie’s post kept popping up in his news feed when he logged in.

”It popped up and I’m like, wow, I had no idea, you know, because last time I talked to him he was perfectly healthy,” said Higginbotham.

He was tested in May and came back as a perfect match. He called Farhat with the good news.

”I really wanted to cry. But then I was, I mean, just overwhelmed with joy, you know, that I couldn’t cry,” said Farhat.

They underwent the procedure at Mayo Clinic in August.

Higginbotham says he first learned about living donors when his wife, Carol, donated a kidney in 2019. He says she also learned of a patient in need through a post on social media.

”It’s good to see, you know, positive things like this come about because of social media,” said Higginbotham.

Higginbotham says his donation was his way of honoring his late older brother, who died of kidney disease in 1979.

“I was never able to do anything for my brother, he was never able to be on the list to receive a new kidney,” said Higginbotham. “Once I found out I could do this, you know, I kind of said I wanted to do that in honor of my brother Gene, donate my kidney to someone else, because I couldn’t ever do it for him.”

Farhat says he feels years younger now and no longer needs dialysis treatments. He shared this message to people waiting for their miracle.

”Just have faith, you know, and it will happen!” said Farhat.

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