Rieke and Marianne from Diemen were colleagues, but are now best friends and even call each other sisters. “When I started kidney dialysis, I automatically ended up on the donor list, but that can take years,” Rieke says in the television program Besties. “A colleague said that I should make a call on Facebook, because her father had also received a kidney that way. Marianne responded and we turned out to be a match. She is simply a gift from heaven.”
Marianne had first shared Rieke’s Facebook message and then thought: ‘why don’t I think about it myself?’: “Rieke is a golden woman, she is always there for everyone and what you sow is what you reap. I have it I discussed it with my children and my love. They thought it was exciting, but said: ‘If that is what you want, we will support you.’ On the morning of the operation, I had an arrow placed on my stomach so that the doctor could take out the right kidney.”
Rieke was very worried about Marianne: “The day after the operation I asked how she was doing and she said: As if a truck had run over me, but I would do it again. I thought what a sweetheart. We Not only are they besties, but she is also my sister. Just from a different mother, I always say.” Marianne: “If you give a kidney, that should not be the basis for a friendship. I would hate that, but it’s just fine.”
Especially for the television program Besties, Rieke and Marianne return to the Amsterdam UMC where the kidney transplant took place in 2017. Rieke immediately feels gratitude towards Marianne again: “The jackpot is in my stomach and the new kidney is still going well.” The women sometimes received strange questions from the outside world, for example whether it is possible to donate a kidney if you do not have the same skin color. According to Marianne, there should be more awareness that the color is on the outside and not on the inside.
Who is your bestie?
We have hundreds of friends on Facebook, but there is only one Bestie: your very best friend who you can always count on, with whom you can laugh uncontrollably, share joys and sorrows and with whom your secrets are safe.
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