In honour of National Donate Life Month in April, here is a heartwarming tale of two longtime friends who came together through kindness and loss and ultimately came up with “the perfect plan.”
Anjie Lynchard and Mary Ann Carroll lived across the street from each other in Columbia, Maryland, fifteen years ago. Phillip and Jared, their sons, quickly became close friends.
According to Anjie, “They were practically inseparable, spending all their time together biking, fishing, and catching frogs.”
However, the family lost communication after they moved only three years later, and they only occasionally communicated on social media.
As Jared and Phillip grew up, Jared enlisted in the Marines. Then tragedy struck a year ago when Jared, then 23 years old, passed away unexpectedly.
“Mary Ann came by after Jared passed away to offer condolences and bring me a prayer shawl,” Anjie says. “I noticed right away that she looked different from when I saw her last (roughly a span of 11 years) and I asked her if everything was okay.”
Mary Ann then described a three-year battle with illness that led to end-stage liver disease, for which a liver transplant was the only treatment.
Mary Ann was added to the nationwide waiting list for a suitable organ in October 2023, which at the time had more than 10,200 patient names on it.
Anjie hoped for a miracle to save her friend’s life after Mary Ann left. At the time, she was unaware that she would be that miracle.
“Several months after my visit from Mary Ann, I saw on Facebook that she had posted a search for a living donor to provide a portion of their liver (because) no one in her family was suitable as a donor.”
Anjie claims that she was inspired and braved by her strong faith to honour her late son by undergoing testing as a potential living donor for Mary Ann.
Mary Ann hesitated to tell her old buddy about her potentially life-saving offer because she didn’t want to put too much pressure on her friend just after a family tragedy.
However, Anjie’s husband Steve’s words were what ultimately persuaded her to donate.
“Steve recalled that during a missionary trip to Costa Rica, not long after Jared’s passing, a minister told him, ‘Out of Jared’s death, new life will be born,’” Anjie remembered. “Steve and I were astonished because my donation would be the literal fulfillment of those words.”
Mary Ann stated, “It was as if Jared was telling her to save my life.”
The findings revealed that Anjie was, in fact, a match. Mary Ann would be given another chance at life.
Anjie believed that the transplant procedure had been predestined when it was set for December 3, 2024.
“Jared had been deeply inspired by a sermon he heard in church exactly one year earlier, Dec. 3, 2023, that was entitled ‘The Perfect Plan,’” Anjie stated. “When I recalled the title, I knew this transplant was destined by God to be that ‘perfect plan’ and that Jared was telling me from heaven, ‘Good job, Mom.’”
A part of Anjie’s liver was surgically removed and put in Mary Ann to replace her failing organ in the successful transplant, which was carried out at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Additionally, Anjie found it much simpler when Dr. Benjamin Philosophe, Lynchard’s physician, used a robotic surgery system, which is minimally invasive.
Philosophe said in a Johns Hopkins media release, “The robotic arms—which the surgeon controls from a console and are linked to a high-resolution camera—enable us to have magnified views of the surgical field, operate with extremely precise movements, and most importantly, make smaller incisions and perform more delicate tissue removal than open surgery. For the donor, this means less pain, faster recovery, and better post-operative outcomes”
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“I was ecstatic to have only a few small scars that healed quickly, even though I expected a big one,” the living donor stated.
Three months after receiving a liver donation from an old acquaintance, Mary Ann is doing well.
She believes that divine intervention brought her and Lynchard together and ultimately resulted in the healthy, rejuvenated life that Anjie’s kind deed made possible. She is a very spiritual person.
“So many things had to happen to make this a reality: our sons being friends, taking Anjie the prayer shawl and her seeing me so sick, finding out that Anjie was a suitable donor… It’s like God and Jared had a hand in it all,” Mary Ann says.
“I have a photo magnet on my refrigerator of Anjie and Jared, my angel on Earth and my angel in heaven.”
Anjie also notes that someone was able to advance on the waiting list for a deceased donor liver by giving a bit of her liver.
“As my nurse practitioner told me, ‘You not only saved Mary Ann’s life, but also a second life.’”
The recipient of her friend’s unique gift, Mary Ann, is adamant that her story will encourage others to become live donors.
“If you can save a life, why wouldn’t you? What greater gift can anyone give.”
