Donating an organ is considered by most as one of the highest forms of altruism. Just consider this: you’re giving away a very vital and personal thing to you that you can more or less spare so that someone else could lead a quality life. Or at the very least just live. So, it should be welcomed with praise and gratitude, right?
Sadly, that isn’t always the case. Don’t forget we live in an imperfect world and stuff happens sometimes. And stuff did happen when Colleen Le decided to give her kidney to her boyfriend who was in desperate need of one. Well, ex-boyfriend, as he ended up cheating on her, despite this whole experience.
Donating an organ is considered one of the most altruistic things anyone could do, so you'd think there'd also be a high degree of gratitude in response, right?
Image credits: colleeeniie
Meet 30-year-old Colleen Le from Yorba Linda, California, with whom Bored Panda got in touch. Not too long ago, Colleen shared a video in satire form with the caption “excited my boyfriend gets a second chance at life after getting my kidney”. Plot twist, the last fraction of the second part of the video shows Colleen planking on the bed with the caption “cheats on me”.
Oof.
Well, there is context, so let’s rewind. Back in 2015, Colleen met a guy she liked and soon learned that he is in desperate need of a kidney. Like, hustling-at-5-percent-capacity kind of need of a new kidney. So, time was running short, needless to say.
Not always, as this one woman shares how she donated a kidney to her boyfriend, and he ended up cheating on her months later
Image credits: colleeeniie
Image credits: colleeeniie
Image credits: colleeeniie
In light of this, Colleen made the tough decision to help him out with one of her kidneys. He never asked or pushed her to do this per se, but was supportive of her decision. Seeing him struggling alone was a decisive factor here.
So, the two went under the knife, and life went back to normal. Happy ending, right? Wrong. Some months after, the boyfriend gave her a surprise visit with an even more surprising confession—that he had cheated on her.
This is not looking good no matter how you spin it, especially considering that she gave him a second chance at life and that he was a devout Christian. Nonetheless, Colleen ended up giving their relationship another go. However, in retrospect, she doesn’t really understand how this could have possibly ended well.
The story goes that Colleen met a guy who was in desperate need of a kidney transplant as his was working at just 5% capacity
Image credits: colleeeniie
Image credits: colleeeniie
Image credits: colleeeniie
Not too long after that, the two had an argument. In the heat of things, the boyfriend suggested stepping back for a moment and, in very Christian fashion, reading some scripture together. That was a hard no from Colleen, she wanted to hash things out through talking.
This prompted an, “If God wanted us to be together, then we'll find a way back together in the end” from him. And she was very promptly blocked by him on social media and life in general.
It was painful. On many levels.
After long consideration, she ended up going under the knife for him, and life went back to normal when, after a bachelor party, he confessed that he had been unfaithful
Image credits: colleeeniie
Image credits: colleeeniie
Image credits: colleeeniie
She had given away a literal part of herself so that he could live better, yet he didn’t seem to have much of a problem cutting ties like he did and just moving on.
He did try to sneak back into her life a few months later after zero contact, but she was having none of it. The moment coincided with the 1-year-anniversary of the kidney transplant. She felt like he had reached out because of guilt, nothing more.
Despite all of this, she does not regret saving his life the way she did.
The relationship didn't last, but Colleen doesn't have any regrets about it—she saved a life and that's what matters
Image credits: colleeeniie
Image credits: colleeeniie
Image credits: colleeeniie
Her story found its way in segments onto TikTok where it recently got a lot of attention. The recent video of her recapping this life event got over 11 million views with 2.8 million likes and loads of engagement. Though she did have other videos explaining the context and responding to questions, which netted her another 170,000+ views collectively.
Amidst all of this, she shared how she felt about the whole issue, saying how her ex managed to blurt out that she only did this to look good, and how weird she feels about the fact that her kidney is now in her ex’s body. “No regrets though,” as the caption on one of those videos stated.
The fallout did include her boyfriend blaming her for doing all of this just to look good, but she denied it
Image credits: colleeeniie
Image credits: colleeeniie
Image credits: colleeeniie
While talking to Bored Panda, Colleen explained that she initially downloaded the TikTok app at the beginning of the pandemic back in 2020, and noticed folks sharing traumatic stories on her For You Page.
And she ended up being very surprised after her story went viral: "I didn't expect so many heartfelt messages and all the love and support I've been receiving from strangers all over the world. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but I knew I was giving people hope by shedding light on a traumatic experience."
Image credits: colleeeniie
Image credits: colleeeniie
And folks online had various reactions to this, most notably all of those who suggested she should demand the kidney back. Though it should also be noted that this isn’t an LCD TV that you can return because Black Friday patrons scratched it during the chaos. Or something.
The other group of people pointed out the audacity of the guy and joked about how there’ll always be a part of her inside of him. Yet, others thought she was a saint for doing this and not regretting it.
Image credits: colleeeniie
Image credits: colleeeniie
Image credits: colleeeniie
Colleen decided to forgive and forget. It wasn't easy, she said, explaining that accepting everything and moving on was actually the hardest part in this story, but she wasn't alone: "My family and friends were very supportive of my decision to donate. If anything, they were just worried about my future health. They were so angry for me after they found out he cheated. They thought I deserved more respect." Much of the internet felt the same way.
Here's the now-viral video that garnered over 11M views with 2.8M likes
Folks had various thoughts on it, mostly demanding she take the kidney back, but also cheering her on
Lastly, we asked Colleen what was the take-away from all of this, and what is something that she'd want to pass on to someone who's dealing with a similar situation. She said this: "There's always hope. Pain is only temporary. Everything will be OK in the end."
You can check out part 1, part 2, and the subsequent short video about it, or you can check out her entire channel where you can find her responses to some of the comments sprinkled among her regularly scheduled programming.
But, let’s not get carried away with all the hyperlinks and scoot over to the comment section below to share your thoughts on this and explain what you would have done in her shoes.