When Kristi Flick’s mother, Lorreta Bourne, reached out to The Fincastle Herald in April, she was looking for help to find a kidney donor for her daughter.

The article about  their situation proved fruitful after Kristi’s brother posted it on Facebook.

On Thursday, she’s scheduled to get a kidney from Gail Duffy at the University of Virginia.

“She is so excited and nervous and scared, all wrapped up,” Bourne said in an email.  “She ended up knowing her donor.’

Duffy works at Virginia Title Center in Roanoke and does what Bourne and Flick do— real estate closings and title insurance.

Bourne said Duffy saw The Herald article on Facebook and wanted to test and ended up being a complete match.

“She said she tried to give her kidney to a complete stranger two years ago and was not a match,” Bourne said.  “This girl is absolutely amazing, she is so excited to do this.”

Flick has been spending about 20 hours or so each week hooked up to a home dialysis machine— 4-1/2 to 5 hours, four days a week.

Still, she works full time. Flick is 35 years old, lives and actually works with her mother who usually handles the job of dialysis nurse.

Flick has been on the National Registry for a kidney transplant for almost 4 years, along with registries at University of Virginia and Wake Forest.

A Wake Forest doctor told the family that reaching out to the community might provide a good opportunity to connect with someone willing to donate a kidney rather than waiting and waiting.