There are 1.6 billion swipes on Tinder every single day. For Alana Duran and Lori Interchello, their match would come with unexpected consequences.
As a lupus sufferer, Alana was in need of a kidney transplant. Four months into their budding relationship, Lori filmed Alana's reaction as she surprised her with a gift box and an offer to donate her own kidney.
After the video garnered attention around the globe on social media, their journey was followed in Dateline’s It’s A Match and two years on from their transplant surgery, we check in and see how their relationship – and their kidney – are faring.
It has been almost three years since the first video was online, how have people reacted to the story?
Alana: I get a lot of messages from people who can relate to my situation. Like ‘hey, I’m on dialysis’ or their Mum is on dialysis and they need a kidney. So we get a lot of messages with that and people find it inspiring too.
Lori: I had no exposure to any of this until I met Alana, but the transplant community is a real community. There are a lot of people in support groups with a lot of people going through this or touched in some way or organ donation in a bunch of different ways. So to have those people reach out to us has been really touching for both of us. But to have people express gratitude for being a donor has been really meaningful for me.
Alana, since the procedure how have you seen improvements to your health and lifestyle?
A: There’s a lot actually. Right after I received the kidney in 2016, I got an echocardiogram done on my heart. My heart function was normal and before that it was below average or not where it was supposed to be, so it jumped up quite a bit after the transplant which was awesome and good news.
Now I have normal heart function and no more dialysis. I still have to take a lot of pills to keep the kidney, but that’s not a big deal – I’ve always taken pills.
I’m fairly active now, I do a lot of weightlifting at the gym. I did it before when I was on dialysis, but now I can do it after. I started crossfit but I’m on a little hiatus now. Overall, I can’t really complain.
Lori, how about yourself?
L: I feel great, nothing has changed in my life or health situation. I wouldn’t even know it was gone. I have a cool scar.
Have there been any complications or issues that have popped up since the surgery?
Source: Dateline
A: Nothing super significant. We moved here to Ann Arbor and the doctors at the University of Michigan, which is one of the top-rated hospitals in the United States – do things a little differently than back in New York.
At some point I did a round of IVIG (Intravenous immunoglobulin, or human plasma) because the levels of waste my kidney was producing was a little low, but that was a month of infusions. I didn’t think it was a big deal. Everything is still fine, the kidney is still functioning perfectly well.
L: I think Alana has had some ordinary or minor issues, but because of her other past health issues, we both, as well as her doctors, take it very seriously. She’s probably undergone more medical treatment than most people will undergo. Luckily there have been no serious worries.
Giving away a kidney is a big gesture and it happened so early in your relationship. For yourself Alana, did you have your own reservations?
A: I don’t think I had any reservations about it. I was pretty pumped to get a kidney. Lori and I have talked about it and she said even if we do break up, don’t worry about it, ‘you can break up with me even though I gave you a kidney’. I know that’s an interesting situation to put into a brand new relationship. So knowing I didn’t owe her anything was nice.
L: I don’t think she wanted to break up with me in the last three years – but I think I felt a little bad so early on that she might have felt that way. I think because it was so new it wasn’t even as if we had been dating long at all. We were in agreement that if the relationship didn’t work out, it was secondary at the time to the donation.
You met on Tinder which is a platform with plenty of options that make it easy to miss people. For each of you, what were your experiences like on Tinder before you met?
L: I met Alana a month after being on Tinder, so not long at all. I had maybe been on another Tinder date and it was a regular date, so I met her right off the bat. I got very lucky.
A: I was on Tinder and all that stuff forever.
There would be times when I was on and active where I was swiping and stuff. And then I’d go ‘stuff this, I hate this’ and deactivate it for a month or two then I’d get back on. I have an ex-girlfriend on Tinder and we’re still decent friends. I met a bunch of people on Tinder and most of them I’m friends with.
I met a lot of people online dating, but Lori was my second serious relationship from Tinder.
What about plans for the future?
A: Lori has an offer from a law firm in DC so we’re going to move to Washington DC. I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I’m on the fence about going to grad school. Right now I work in research and don’t want to do it again so I have no idea what I’m doing like so many people my age. But Lori is all set with a law firm.
L: I graduate in December, we’ll hang out here, I’ll study for the bar, take some time for a break before we move.
