Becky and Candi: Best Friends Connected Forever

When Becky Raulerson found out that her best friend since elementary school, Candi Newsom Hinson, would need a kidney transplant, Becky was determined to be Candi’s living donor.

“A feeling came over me,” Becky said, “and God said, ‘Becky, it’s going to be you.”

Both 39 years old, the two had grown up in Bonifay, Florida. Candi first discovered her kidney condition during ninth-grade while getting a physical for her school’s basketball team. She was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (PKD).

In November 2014, Becky and Candi were tested, and doctors informed the two it was a “sister-like match.”

The kidney transplant successfully occurred on April 16, 2015.

“Immediately, she went from being really pale and tired to looking like a brand new person,” Becky said. “She looked like the Candi I knew in high school.”

The best friends named the kidney “Alberta,” in honor of the University of Florida’s mascot.

Both Becky and Candi have recovered well since the transplant. Becky works as a University of Florida faculty member in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and Candi is a remote hospice nurse.

“Organ donation is important because it saves so many people, like me,” Candi said. “It kept me from having dialysis. I get to enjoy life with my family and friends, and now I have the energy to do so.”