{"id":419901,"date":"2026-10-06T04:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T04:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/419901\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T04:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T04:48:08","slug":"sisterly-love-jacksonville-nurse-saves-her-sisters-life-by-donating-a-kidney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/419901\/","title":{"rendered":"Sisterly love: Jacksonville nurse saves her sister\u2019s life by donating a kidney"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville nurse made a life-saving decision long before her sister ever asked. Moneeco \u201cNicole\u201d Collins donated one of her kidneys to her sister at Mayo Clinic in Florida \u2014 and says she had already made up her mind years earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sister was diagnosed years ago with an autoimmune condition and as I learned more about it I knew that it affected her kidneys and her lungs so I kind of knew a day would come where she may need a kidney,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n

When Collins finally told her sister she wanted to be her donor, the reaction wasn\u2019t what she expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was very moved, and I didn\u2019t think about her perspective, but she was concerned about our well-being,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jacksonville nurse donates kidney to sister (WJXT)From decision to surgery in a matter of months<\/p>\n

The process moved quickly once it began. Testing started in February to confirm the kidney would be a compatible match. By May, Collins was in surgery.<\/p>\n

Collins donated directly to her sister at Mayo Clinic in Florida.<\/p>\n

The organ donation crisis facing minority communities<\/p>\n

Collins\u2019 story shines a light on a critical national shortage. According to DonateLife.net<\/a> , the national transplant waiting list currently stands at more than 100,000 people. More than 60% of those waiting represent multicultural communities. Sixteen people die every day waiting for a transplant.<\/p>\n

Minority organ donors are especially needed because some racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by conditions that can lead to organ failure. While organs are not matched based on race or ethnicity, certain tissue markers are more likely to be found among people with similar genetic backgrounds.<\/p>\n

Collins has a message for others \u2014 especially those in minority communities \u2014 who may be hesitant about donating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do want to encourage more people to ask about this process from a minority perspective,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Family\u2019s commitment to giving grows<\/p>\n

The spirit of giving hasn\u2019t stopped with Collins. Her son has since signed up to become a bone marrow donor, extending the family\u2019s legacy of saving lives.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville nurse made a life-saving decision long before her sister ever asked. Moneeco \u201cNicole\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1039,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-419901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-duval-county","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}