The story behind the man who donated his kidney to his adoptive mother

Jordan McIntosh, a resident of Phoenix who has lived with his adoptive mother, Ingeborg McIntosh, throughout his entire life, decided to ‘pay her back.’

He had a tough childhood as his biological mother couldn’t take care of him and left him in the McIntosh’s house which has helped more than 120 children to get an adoptive home.

AZ Family reported that Ingeborg knew she wanted to adopt Jordan herself from the very first moment she held him in her arms and even admitted it was ‘love at first sight.’ Things were not easy for them, though.

One of the conditions that Jordan’s biological mothers stated when she 'abandoned' him was that he must be adopted and raised by a black family, so Ingeborg wasn’t allowed to take care of him.

Finding an appropriate family for Jordan was more difficult than expected and, when he was 4 years old, Ingeborg finally adopted him. She said that it was easy because he was part of the family already.

20 years later, Ingeborg was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, which meant that she needed a kidney transplantation as soon as possible. Finding a matching organ was not an easy task as there are long lists of people waiting for the same throughout the country.

Knowing that every minute was important to save his mother’s life, Jordan secretly booked an appointment to see if he was a match for transplantation. Much to his surprise, he was a match indeed and decided to give his own kidney to his mother.

Jordan pointed out that it was his ‘calling in life’ and that he hoped he could do more as time passed by, but that it was all he could do at that moment.

Ingeborg tried to change her son’s mind about giving her his kidney telling him that it was not mandatory, but he never even considered turning his back on Ingeborg.

The surgery was successful and both Ingeborg and Jordan are healthy at the moment. Jordan admitted that it was his way to pay it forward for all the things she has done for him since he was a child.