This Daughter Saved Her Father’s Life With a Selfless Act of Love

In a touching, lifesaving act of love, 25-year-old Delayne Ivanowski from Kirkwood, Missouri donated her kidney to her father, John Ivanowski, and surprised him after keeping the plan a secret for over nine months.

While John originally did not approve of the idea, his daughter Delayne knew she needed to intervene to help him avoid waiting years for a potential donor and to stop him from spending several hours a week on dialysis.

Following the successful transplant surgery, Delayne’s dad learned she was his anonymous donor when she walked into his room wearing a hospital gown. She shared John’s emotional reaction in a TikTok video that has since captured millions of views.

Delayne hopes her family's story spreads awareness for the more than 104,000 people currently sitting on the waiting list for a lifesaving organ transplant in America.

“If anything, I've saved one life and hopefully I can, with awareness and other things, save other lives by encouraging people to become donors or to take that next step and go get the testing done to become a match,” she told ABC News. “It hurts, but all the pain is worth it in the end, I think.”

You can watch the sweet surprise in the TikTok video below and you can read more about Delayne’s beautiful gift to her father on ABC News.