Over the last year, Zoe Schumacher has redirected her life after receiving a long-awaited kidney transplant last December. Schumacher was diagnosed with Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody Vasculitis in March of 2024, and lived out her senior year at Kansas State, trying to graduate and find a perfect match to save her life.
Luckily for Schumacher, one of her K-State classmates was deemed a viable match.
“I received my kidney from a living donor, a friend of mine, so we were able to plan the date of the surgery, but it happened a couple days after graduation,” Schumacher said. “Kaylee and I didn’t know each other well at the time, which sounds so crazy, because you’d think that if you were going to donate a kidney to somebody, it would be someone in your family or your best friend, but her and I really just knew each other from class at K-State, and we also lived next to each other in the dorms freshman year.”
Schumacher said through this journey, she has found a best friend for life.
“We followed each other on social media, so when I started sharing back in April to the summer of 2024 that I was going through kidney failure, she reached out to me to say she was interested,” Schumacher said. “When she found out she was a perfect match for me, she just decided that it was worth it to her because she wanted to do this for me. It’s really just that simple. … But since the surgery, we’ve had the chance to get much closer and really become great friends because of this unimaginable bond that’s brought us together. I just think it says so much about how selfless she is and how simple it can be to donate one of your organs to someone if you want to.”
Schumacher encourages other people to stay informed on how to be an organ donor, and wants to clear up any misconceptions about organ donation surfacing on the internet.
“Recently, I have seen a lot of misinformation circulating online about organ donation. You know, it’s like some people think that if you are registered as a donor on your license, that doctors will not try to save you so they can donate your organs to someone on the list, which doesn’t really make sense. … Whenever I read something like that, it makes me really sad because having gone through what I’ve had to go through has just given me the perspective that the person leaving that comment on the Internet doesn’t have. I hope that they or a family member of theirs never has to be on the waiting list for an organ.”
Schumacher reflects on her previous year of recovery and on who stood by her when she needed support the most: the Manhattan community.
“There’s so much I could say about the past year, it was so exciting but also scary,” Schumacher said. “I think that I have a very unique, large support system, and throughout the entire campaign of finding a donor, K-State felt like part of my support system. At times, it felt like the entire city of Manhattan or even the community of K-State sports fans knew what was going on with me, and just wanted to help simply because I love K-State.”
Within the last year, Schumacher graduated from K-State with a degree in marketing in the College of Business and accepted a position at K-State as a creative media specialist in the College of Health and Human Sciences.
“My team and department at K-State have been so supportive of my journey this past year, and I am grateful for my K-State community,” Schumacher said.
