Woman's Life Saved By Dog Who Found 1-In-22 Million Donor On Beach

April 26, 2023

A pet Doberman sniffed out a "perfect" kidney donor for its 44-year-old dying owner.

Lucy (left) and Katie (right) | Photo credit: Cenydd Owen

44-year-old Lucy Humphrey was told she had 5 years to live by doctors. They said the odds of her finding a donor was 1 in 22 million.

Lucy spent years on the waiting list until she found her savior by total coincidence on a Welsh beach.

She and her partner, Cenydd, had taken their dogs Jake and Indie to Barry Island Beach for the day -- and Indie kept running off to a stranger about 100 yards away and would not leave her alone.

"Indie went over like three times, back and forward to her," Lucy explained. "She was minding her own business, campervanning on her own. Eventually Cenydd went over to apologize, and we got chatting and invited her over to our barbecue."

The three started chatting, eating and drinking. The stranger Indie was bothering turned out to be Katie James, 40, from Barry. When Lucy mentioned the fact she couldn't drink alcohol as she was on dialysis, Katie revealed she had recently joined the kidney donation register to make an altruistic donation.

"We swapped telephone numbers," said Lucy. "And to be honest I didn't think anything else would come of it."

After blood tests and scans, the result came back: Katie was a perfect match.

"She had all the tests and it turned out she was a perfect match," Lucy said. "A surgeon told us it's a 1-in-22-million chance to find the perfect match, and that's what I needed."

The transplant took place in October 2022.

Katie, Lucy and Cenydd have remained friends since the donation and have a group chat which they've dubbed "the Kidney Gang."