A Missouri dad has a new lease on life, thanks to his daughter.
The idea began brewing in Delayne Ivanowski's mind more than a year ago after doctors told her father he had an Immunoglobulin A deficiency, causing an overactive immune system to attack his kidneys.
"From there, it's just been dialysis every couple of days since then," said Delayne. "So, for over a year, he's been hooked up to a machine for three, four, five hours a day. So then my first thought was, 'Why can't he just have my kidney right now?'"
John was against the idea.
"I didn't want her kidney," John said. "I'm like, 'You're too young, you've got a long time to be here...'"
But Delayne had a plan to help her father.
"I don't even remember how I got his coordinator's phone number, and I reached out to her and I was like, 'Hey, how can I do this? When can we start?' And then as soon as he was good enough basically for the transplant, they started running me through a bunch of tests," said Delayne.
Delayne's plan was kept from her father for eight months before the big moment on Feb. 16.
"I didn't find out until the day of surgery after we were post-op," said John. "She opened the door and came through and I was just like, 'Oh my lord.'"
The moment tugged at millions of heartstrings after Delayne posted the video on TikTok. In the video, she asked each of her followers to donate a dollar for her family's medical costs.
"And I thought, 'Why not reach out to, like, social media?' And I got a way bigger response than I ever was expecting to," said Delayne.
John says he is grateful for his daughter.
"Oh, I'm so grateful not to be hooked up to the machine anymore and be able to do what I need to do or what I want to do, you know, it's just gonna be, it's a big relief," said John.
He's now taking a new lease of life, thanks to his daughter.
"It is one of the greatest gifts you can ever give," said Delayne.
