Three kidney recipients meet their living donors

December 15, 2025

Last week, three living kidney donors met the people who received their donations. Donor Michael Davino, left, shakes hands with recipient James Brewster. Donor Evelyn Jackl, center, hugs John Davino. On the right, donor Julie Scarboro greets recipient Michael Griffin | Photo courtesy of UF Health / Hannah Clark.

Press release from UF Health

BY SCOTT HUNTER

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On a sunny December afternoon in a room high atop the UF Health Heart and Vascular Hospital, overlooking the University of Florida campus, six people whose lives are now intertwined forever met for the first time. The three kidney donors and three kidney recipients — participants in a rare three-way paired exchange — greeted one another with heartfelt gratitude and warm smiles.

The decision to donate an organ to a loved one is not an easy one for most people. Evelyn Jackl found herself faced with this dilemma when she saw a Facebook post from her best friend, Melissa. Melissa’s father, Michael Griffin, was in need of a kidney, but a heart condition prevented her from donating herself. She wasn’t an acceptable match. But Jackl was.

“It was easy to donate,” Jackl said. “I lost my dad to pancreatic cancer when I was 20, and if there’s something I could have done to save him at that point, I would have. Mike is like my surrogate father, and he means more to me than he realizes.”

Jackl was fully prepared to donate a kidney to Griffin, but when she learned about the UF Health Living Donor Program, she made a decision that ultimately changed her life and the lives of five other people forever.

By donating her kidney to a stranger instead of Griffin, Jackl could facilitate the rare three-way paired exchange, allowing two other incompatible pairs to participate in a swap that enabled three compatible transplants.

“Once I was assured that Michael would be getting a comparable kidney in the same time frame, it seemed like an obvious choice,” Jackl said. “If I’m doing it anyway, why would I not help other people who don’t have the same option?”

One donation became three. Jackl’s kidney ended up going to John Davino, a man she’d never met — until that sunny December afternoon at UF Health.

So, let’s recap. Three UF Health patients needed kidneys. Three people made the selfless decision to donate a kidney — except not all the kidneys and donors matched up. But with Jackl deciding to donate to Davino, this allowed the pairs to be re-matched so three people could receive kidneys and not just one.

Here’s how it shook out: Jackl, who intended to donate to Griffin, ended up donating her kidney to Davino. Julie Scarboro, who intended to donate to her friend James Brewster, ultimately donated her kidney to Griffin. And finally, Michael Davino, John Davino’s son, intended to donate his kidney to his father but ended up donating to James Brewster.

Georgios Vrakas, M.D., M.Sc., Ph.D., director of the UF Health Adult and Pediatric Kidney and Pancreas Programs, said that the donors were those who had chosen to step forward when others might step back.

“Know that your gift doesn’t end with surgery,” Vrakas told the donors. “It echoes across generations, inspires communities, and is one of the most impactful acts that anybody can offer.”

Vrakas emphasized that living donations such as those offered by these donors are typically safe, carefully evaluated, can shorten waitlists, and give recipients the best possible start to their new lives post-surgery. Kidney transplant outcomes are the most optimal when recipients receive living organs.

According to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, more than 140,000 individuals were on a waitlist for a kidney at some point during 2023, while just over 28,000 transplants were performed. Living donor programs such as the one at UF Health streamline the process, allowing for faster matching and typically better clinical outcomes.

Griffin, Jackl’s original intended recipient, expressed his gratitude to all of the donors.

“I can’t go without saying how grateful I am for everything you all did,” he said. “It’s like throwing a rock at a pond: everything ripples.”

Wen Xie, M.D., a clinical assistant professor in the UF Departments of Urology and Surgery, performed all three of the donor operations. Xie said moments like this were why she went into transplant surgery in the first place.

“Being a living donor is scary,” Xie said. “It’s giving a piece of yourself; trusting your surgeons to keep you safe through the journey and to keep that part of yourself healthy in your recipient. Thank you for your generosity and for allowing us to do this.”