Dan Coyne had the surprise all planned: near the end of Myra dela Vega's Friday night shift as a Jewel-Osco cashier in Evanston, IL, his children would buy groceries and hand her a card. Inside would be the unexpected news that Coyne could donate one of his kidneys to dela Vega, who is suffering from renal failure. But dela Vega, 49, who looked puzzled by the card, didn't open it. Instead, Coyne emerged from hiding and blurted out the news himself. "Oh! Oh!" dela Vega said, covering her mouth as her knees started to buckle. Her eyes filled with tears. Later, she explained: "It's just so overwhelming to think someone is giving you an organ." Nearly half of all U.S. transplants are from living donors. Some are blood relatives; some, like Coyne, simply have an emotional connection with the recipient.
