A highly publicized kidney donation sparked by a South Portland woman’s plea for an organ painted on her car window is scheduled for next week.
Joshua Dall-Leighton of Windham will donate a kidney to waitress Christine Royles on June 16 at Maine Medical Center in Portland, the hospital and the Maine Transplant Program announced Monday.
After learning she needed a transplant, Royles, a 24-year-old mother who suffers from kidney failure, painted a message on the back windshield of her Kia Soul asking for a donor.
Corrections officer Dall-Leighton, 30, spotted the ad in a mall parking lot and stepped forward in early March as a potential donor.
The hospital hit the brakes on the procedure in April after unprecedented fundraising for Dall-Leighton raised concerns about breaking a federal law that prohibits donors from profiting from donating an organ. Royles organized fundraisers to cover Dall-Leighton’s family’s expenses related to the donation, and another individual started an online crowdfunding campaign that raised nearly $50,000.
“Following an external legal review of this matter, we are now confident that moving ahead with the transplant procedure will comply with federal laws that are designed to regulate organ transplants and protect living donors,” Matt Paul, MMC’s director of communications and public affairs, said in a statement Monday.
The hospital confirmed that Dall-Leighton was a compatible donor while conducting its legal review, Paul said.