The moment a woman surprised her girlfriend by telling her she would be able to donate a life-saving kidney to her has been captured on video and viewed by thousands.
Lori Interlicchio, 22, filmed her girlfriend Alana Duran, 25, opening up a box of presents she had put together. Ms Duran took her time going through the various gifts, including a paddle ball, containers of apple sauce and Star Wars paraphernalia, while Ms Interlicchio waited for her to reach the bottom.
Ms Interlicchio told Buzzfeed her “heart was racing”.
“I wanted her to hurry up and get to the bottom, but she was so appreciative of every single item I bought,” she said.
“She talked about the Star Wars band aids for like 20 seconds.”
The video shows Ms Duran looking confused as she picks up cards with phrases like ‘Tattoos are cool, but I’d rather get matching scars’ and ‘I’m making you choose between me and that damn dialysis machine’.
She finally realises what is happening when she sees the large card at the bottom of the box that read: “It’s a match! You and Lori have no antibodies against each other”.
The card is a play on dating app Tinder’s interface, where the New York state couple met each other.
Ms Duran is visibly shocked and starts to cry.
“Oh my god,” she can be heard saying. “This is amazing.” Then: “I have to call my mom.”
She told Buzzfeed: “It was really unbelievable and rather shocking that this woman in front of me, a perfect stranger I had met on Tinder, someone I love, was a match for me in more ways than one.”
Ms Interlicchio decided to get tested when she learned they were of the same blood type. She and Ms Duran have been in a relationship for two months, according to the Daily Mail.
Ms Duran was diagnosed with lupus at the age of 12, she confirmed in a Facebook post.
According to the NHS, lupus is caused by systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a disease in which the body’s immune system is overactive and starts to attack and inflame healthy cells, tissue and organs.
She undergoes regular dialysis as a result of the disease and has been on the waiting list for a new kidney since 2011.
She wrote: “Both of us going into this relationship not expecting anything out of the ordinary. It’s just so amazing to me that she was willing to get tested and now she’s super excited to donate one of her kidneys to me… You’re the absolute best.”
The pair are looking to schedule the surgery in February.
