Saving A Life At First Swipe
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A dating app meant to be a matchmaker became a lifesaver for a Florida woman.
It has been one month since Erika Bragan's life saving surgery.
She got a new kidney from an unlikely source all because a complete stranger swiped right on a popular dating app called Tinder.
The complete stranger was Jennifer Thomas who went out on a date with Rich O'Dea, after they found each other on the app.
"I thought she was pretty," said O'Dea who friends with Erika Bragan's husband Scott.
"I figured I'd take a chance and swipe right," he said about the Tinder app he used.
Here's how Tinder works.
People looking for dates check out profiles and if you don't think you'd make a connection, you swipe left.
If you're intersted you swipe right.
That's what Thomas did when she came across O'Dea's profile.
"I swiped right because he's a good-looking guy," she said.
Tinder wasn't around when Erika and her husband Scott Bragan met 19 years ago but the Tinder app has played a huge role in their lives.
"It was love at first sight but that's a whole different story," said Scott.
The real story is when Scott's running buddy Rich O'Dea swiped right and the date turned out to be Thomas.
That swipe became the first step to saving Erika's life.
She has polycystic kidney disease.
"It's a genetic disease that I received," said Erika. "My mother also had it."
Her only hope was to find a kidney donor.
But friends and family didn't match.
O'Dea told Thomas about Erika and she decided to see if she was match.
It turned out that the stranger who caught Rich's eye on Tinder was a match.
"You would never think that just being on a dating app and maybe seeing if you could find someone for a Friday night you would end up helping save someone's life," said Jenn.
The surgery was last month and today everyone is happy, healthy and amazed that swiping right saved a life.
"I'm absolutely glad that I swiped right," said O'Dea.
Regarding O'Dea and Thomas and their relationship, they only went on one date and now they say they're just friends.
