Abbott Northwestern kidney transplant makes sisters of friends

District 11 school teachers Pam Schwandt and Carolyn Kuntz became fast friends and forever family members when Schwandt donated a kidney to Kuntz. Photo by Sue Austreng, ABC Newspapers

[ABC Newspapers, January 01, 0001] They say you can choose your friends but not your family.

Well, after a June 14 swap of a medical sort, a pair of District 11 school teachers have family ties – not to mention surgical scars – that bind.

You see, Roosevelt Middle School art teacher Pam Schwandt donated a kidney to Ramsey Elementary School reading teacher Carolyn Kuntz.

And the rest is family history.

Posted on July 16, 2010 in Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Coon Rapids Herald, Transplantation