A Ride for a Lifetime

An Uber trip took a detour when the driver offered his ailing passenger one of his kidneys

- Sarah Chassé

BILL SUMIEL WAS having a tough Friday. It was October 2020, and the 71-year-old, who was dealing with kidney failure and had been on dialysis for a few years, found himself at a vascular center 30 miles from home for the second time in 24 hours. The day before, his brother had driven him to the Vascular Institute in Vineland, New Jersey, for a routine declotting of his dialysis access port, but it unexpectedly clogged again that night.

Sumiel was no stranger to the struggles of kidney disease. He'd been diagnosed with diabetes more than 20 years before, which led to his kidney problems. He was on the transplant list, but no matches had yet appeared. So he continued with his treatments, including the periodic port declotting that had inexplicably failed this time. Without a ride lined up for Friday's do-over, Sumiel took an Uber to and from his appointment.