Woman donates kidney to stranger she met hiking the ‘Y’ in Provo
PROVO, Utah ( ABC4 ) — Shiller Joseph was hiking "Y Mountain" in Sept. 2023 when he met a woman who would change the trajectory of his life.
Joseph was diagnosed with lupus after his high school graduation and was in remission for roughly 17 years until his health began to decline again. That's when he moved to Utah and later began dialysis treatments as he waited to move up on the kidney transplant list.
In 2023, his wife convinced him to hike to the "Y" in Provo. While there, they began talking about sports with a fellow hiker named Krissy Miller. At the fourth switchback, Miller asked Joseph what he liked about Utah to which he responded that he moved up on the kidney transplant list when he moved here.
"I kid you not, I just felt the answer to my prayer," Miller said at an Intermountain Health conference Monday. "I don't believe it was a coincidence that we met that day, that was the one and only day Shiller had ever been on Y mountain."
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Miller said she had felt drawn to be a kidney donor for several years but in 2022 did not pass a necessary medical test to donate and decided it probably "wasn't meant to be."
The following year, she began hiking the "Y" several times a week. On Sept. 14, 2023, she said she prayed and asked God if she needed to pursue donating a kidney again. That day she met Joseph, and it turned out they were biologically an excellent match.
According to Joseph and Miller, doctors said they matched nearly as if they were siblings — despite the fact that they looked very different on the outside.
"You grow up knowing everybody's the same, especially if you have a faith," Joseph said. "Outside we look different, but inside we're all the same."
While the road to the transplant surgery was difficult, the surgeries were successfully performed on April 2. Joseph's last dialysis treatment was on April 1, 2024, exactly three years after he began the difficult — and often painful — treatments.
"When I met her, everything changed, my life completely changed," he said.
As for Miller, she said the recovery went well, and she is back to doing all kinds of physical activities — including hiking the "Y." She said taking a five-week break from pickleball was a small sacrifice when compared to the difficulty of going through dialysis.
"I feel like my life physically has gone back to the way it was before, but I think mentally and spiritually I live a much better life because I've gone through this process," she said.
Both Miller and Joseph say their chance encounter was a miracle and thanked the many people who cared for them at the Intermountain Medical Center.
"She didn't realize just the fact she wanted to do it, even if I didn't get the kidney, she answered prayers that she didn't even know she answered," Joseph said. "I thank you guys, all the team members, everybody. I will never forget you, never."
Miller also thanked the medical professionals who helped them during the process, saying their work is extraordinary and while it "might get mundane" to them, "it changes lives."
Joseph was among the 90,000 people across the country who were waiting for a kidney transplant, according to Intermountain Health. Intermountain Health officials said one in eight people have kidney disease and the medical center alone conducts a kidney transplant every 32 hours.
"It's kind of a shocker to say, 'Oh yeah, I'm going to donate a kidney,' but when you feel like you're a part of a bigger plan, it's really easy to want to donate," Miller said.
