ALBANY, N.Y. ( NEWS10 ) — On a clear Tuesday morning in mid-October, local chef Yono Purnomo was in good spirits as his doorbell rang at his Albany home. “Good morning! Wow, you look so fresh!” exclaimed the retired restaurant owner as a special guest entered his home.
Yono embraced his live angel donor, Jacques Goulet, for the first time since transplant day six months ago at New York’s Presbyterian Hospital.
Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox!
Goulet, who lives in Rensselaer County and works for the state, explained, “I was going to donate a kidney regardless. If it matched with Yono, great! If not, someone else was going to get it.”
Goulet had no prior relationship with Purnomos, but he did go to the same high school as Purnomo’s son, Dominick. He first heard of Yono’s end stage renal diagnosis and desperate search for a kidney through the Facebook group Purnomo’s family had created for him as a last resort…