PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. —

Words cannot describe how grateful Ahlam Askar is to have a second chance at life.

She was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure in July 2022.

"The process from there was just like a rollercoaster of emotion. Got really dark, got really scary and I didn’t know what to do," Askar said.

She was desperately searching for the perfect kidney donor, while spending countless hours at her dialysis appointments.

"Because of my blood type, the waiting list for a kidney for me is roughly seven to 10 years," she said.

Askar works in foster care and described how all of her work family were getting tested to see if they were her match. But it was unsuccessful.

Until Jonathan Oakley came into her life.

"John Facebook messaged me right before the hurricane and was like I don’t know if you know this but I’m your kidney match," she said.

Oakley is the father of one of Askar's work friends.

"My daughter and her have been friends for about three years now. So, we’ve come to know who she is," Oakley said. "In September, I heard that the dialysis was going rough for her and she hadn’t found a match yet. And we were the same blood type, so I got two kidneys, I figured she needs it. I’ll give it to her."

Oakley is the senior director of Mission United at United Way, so life every day for him is a mission to serve others.

"For this young woman to have a life moving forward it only makes sense for me to help any way I can," Oakley said. "I’m a believer that if you have the ability to help, that you should."

"Not only will my body 24/7 just go back to work, meaning it’s constantly clearing my body of toxins, clearing my blood, helping me excrete any bacteria. I am just overall going to have a better quality of life. I won’t be tied to a machine," Askar said. "I will just have the opportunity and the chance at life again."

The transplant is scheduled for sometime later this month.

"Named the kidney ‘Kyle.’ And it just makes sense so it’s not an awkward conversation in a month or two. I’m not going to message her going, ‘How’s my kidney doing? Are you treating it right?’ It’s, ‘How’s Kyle doing?’" Oakley said.

"He’s a guardian angel to all of us. And I’m just so thankful for literally giving me a new life," Askar said.

If you'd like to help with Askar's medical expenses, click here.

ALEXANDRIA, Ky. — Some organizations, like the Alexandria Police Department, have been lighting up their offices blue this month to support National Foster Care Awareness Month across the Tri-State.

Lisa Daniel, a SAFY foster care recruiter, said the goal of National Foster Care Awareness Month is to educate the community on the backgrounds of kids in foster care. In Kentucky, about 48% of kids in foster care are older than 11 years old and close to 70% of kids have at least one sibling in foster care as well.

"We need families that will take older youth, adolescents, teenagers," Daniel said. "We also need families that will take sibling groups. One of the things that we want more than anything is to keep brothers and sisters together. So we need families that will take two, three, four kids together."

SAFY also has a goal of getting every home and business in Northern Kentucky to light up blue before the end of May to support National Foster Care Awareness Month.

If you want to help take care of a child, but foster care feels like too much for you, you can also sign-up for respite care. This is similar to a weekend at Grandma's house, where you offer a place for foster kids to come for the weekend and then they return to the foster home on Monday.

This week on the Hear Cincinnati podcast, host Brian Niesz is joined by community reporter Lucy May and senior real-time editor Pat LaFleur to discuss racial disparities in health care, easing COVID-19 restrictions in Ohio and Kentucky, and a local teen on her way to Harvard against all odds.

Later, anchor and reporter Kristyn Hartman joins the podcast to tell the story of a local couple who were granted a storybook wedding with the help of the community after they fell in love in hospice.

Listen to this episode in the podcast player above.

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