When furniture shopping brings friendship and a second chance at life

Making new friends has never been a challenge for Dayna Cohen. In fact, one of her close friends has joked about how Dayna leaves each place she enters with a new friend. An October 2021 trip to a Rooms to Go store in Savannah, Georgia, proved no exception to this pattern — the only distinguishing factor this time was the level of impact her new friend would have on her life.

That new friend was Jake Rowland, who worked at the store as a furniture salesman. "I just happened to be the person at the front door when she came in," said Jake. "I had my first trip to New York scheduled for that December, and I could tell from her accent that she was from somewhere up there, so I said, 'You must be from New York,' and we hit it off from there." The two wound up talking for about 45 minutes and friended each other on Facebook. 

Six months later, in April 2022, Dayna received life-changing news at a routine doctor's appointment: her kidneys were failing, and she would need to start dialysis. 

"[The doctor told me], 'your [bloodwork] numbers are a little weird,' and she wanted me to go to a nephrologist," said Dayna, who has diabetes. "When I went to the nephrologist, he did two sets of blood tests, and said my numbers were not good and that he was going to arrange for me to go to Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta to get evaluated for a kidney transplant." Dayna was devastated. "It took me a little while before I opened up and told people about it," she said. 

One of those people was Jake. The two got lunch together in October 2023 and Dayna filled him in on what was going on with her health. Not long after, Jake was scrolling through Facebook and saw the website Dayna made about her diagnosis and need for a kidney. "When I clicked on it, I saw that we were compatible blood types — and there was something about seeing that that just made a bell go off [in my head]," he said. "I made up my mind in that moment [that I was going to pursue testing to see if I could donate to her]."

The testing revealed positive results.  "Everything came back indicating that I was above-average healthy," said Jake. In February 2024, he received a call informing him that he was a perfect match for Dayna. Jake was shocked, as transplant specialists had told him that it was unlikely this would happen, particularly because he is not related to Dayna.  

Until that day, Dayna had no idea Jake was even undergoing testing. Jake decided to tell her he would give her a kidney on a visit to her house under the guise of wanting Avon products, which Dayna used to sell. Once Jake revealed the true reason for his visit, Dayna reacted both physically and emotionally. "The heat rose up within me," she said. "I was all red and sweating, and I looked at him and said, 'No, no you can't.'" His mother echoed those sentiments, telling Dayna that she was concerned about her son undergoing surgery. But as Jake's father put it, once Jake makes up his mind, he doesn't change it, and his family ultimately supported his decision to donate to Dayna.

It would be another six months before the surgery actually happened, and during that time, dialysis became increasingly difficult for Dayna. "I had a lot of side effects, and there were days when I just thought, 'I don't think I'm going to be able to [keep] doing this,'" she said. "Jake and one of my dialysis nurses were the biggest cheerleaders and kept telling me, 'You got this.'" 

The surgery took place in August 2024 in Atlanta. Recovery for both donor and recipient were smooth, aided by the fact that Jake's work allowed him to take whatever time off he needed. "There were a couple days of pain, but I didn't even take a quarter of the pain medication they sent me home with," said Jake. "My colleagues [brought food to my door], so there was nothing I could have wanted for." Over six months later, Jake said he hasn't had to make any changes to his lifestyle, and that he is actually healthier now than he was before the surgery, since doctors had asked him to lose ten pounds before the procedure took place. 

Dayna was discharged from the hospital three days after the surgery and drove herself from Atlanta to her home a few days after that. She said the anticipation of the surgery was the hardest part of the process, and that her new kidney, which she named "Jake Junior," is working "unbelievably well." 

Jake's selfless decision to become a living organ donor is the same choice over 6,000 other Americans made in 2024. Their altruistic actions are celebrated during the month of April, National Donate Life Month, and are highlighted to encourage more people to become organ donors. 

As a donor, Jake said the key to increasing the number of donors is education and awareness. "[Prior to the surgery], I had no information on organ donation," said Jake. "It's not something they teach you about in school, so unless you're in the medical field and associated with [organ donation] in some way, you wouldn't know. So, [Dayna and I] are on a mission to educate people, provide resources and do whatever we can to get the word out that yes, you can do this, and you can live a normal life." 

Dayna echoed this sentiment and encouraged people to talk to their networks about their desire to become organ donors. "Either check off on your [driver's license] that you want to be an organ donor, or let your family, friends or health care proxies know that if something happens to you, you want to be a donor," she said. 

When asked what advice he would give to people who are on the fence about becoming living donors, Jake said conducting research is very important. "Make sure you have pursued every available avenue to educate yourself and really have all the facts and then use that to guide you in making your decision."

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