DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. — A Jacksonville woman is doing everything in her power to find a kidney donor. That includes putting up billboards around Jacksonville.
You may have driven past one of them.
Lori Link is in desperate need of a kidney transplant. For the past four years she’s been on dialysis.
She lost her kidney after battling cancer and getting a new kidney would mean the world to her.
“It would mean a lot. I would be able to take care of my grandchildren which I used to do,” Link said.
Link tried asking for help on places like Craigslist, but after that didn’t work, she decided to put up a billboard hoping to get her message out to those driving by.
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Link told Action News Jax it cost $3,000 just to have the billboards up for a month.
She put them up about a week ago with the hopes that someone could help her find kidney.
“I figured a billboard would get a lot of people who would see it,” she said.
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One has been placed on Beach Boulevard on the Southside near the bowling alley, another by I-295 just off the Roosevelt exit and another near the Avenues Mall on Philips Highway.
According to kidneyfund.org nearly 100,000 people are on the waiting list for a new kidney.
Those interested in becoming a living donor are evaluated by the transplant center to make sure they are a good match and can donate a healthy kidney.
Link was put on a waiting list for a new kidney at the Mayo Clinic about a year ago. If the billboards don’t work, she is still anxiously waiting for good news that doctors found her match.
“It’s a long journey and you have to work very hard and I pray to God that everybody that needs a kidney gets one,” Link said.
Link hasn’t received any calls yet for a kidney, but she has also put up a GoFundMe account to help keep her billboards up.
For information on how to register to become a donor, visit registerme.org.