Simone Barton might just owe her life to social media.

Three years ago she found out she needed a kidney transplant; potential donors came forward, but none were a good match.

A friend suggested Mrs Barton share her plight on Facebook; the Bermuda Heart Foundation chief executive officer was on it only to stay up to date with her children in college.

“I’d told my family and a few close friends that my kidney was failing but few other people,” the 55-year-old said. “There were matches in my family but they didn’t work out.

“I’ve spent my whole career helping other people, but I had a very hard time asking for help myself.”

On March 30, she made her situation public telling her 162 Facebook friends: “I know everything happens for a reason and my perfect donor is out there and I will soon be able to close this chapter of my life. I remain nauseatingly optimistic and four French fries short of my Happy Meal, that my O+ donor is out there. This too shall pass.”

In between the messages of encouragement she received was one from a Canadian, Liz Way.

The 38-year-old helped Mrs Barton set up the Foundation’s jump rope programme years ago.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going through this? I’m O+,” wrote Ms Way. “How do we see if we’re a match?”

It took several visits to doctors’ offices in the US before it was determined they were a perfect fit.

“Liz will be forever in my heart, my spirit and my soul,” Mrs Barton said. “I never thought in a million years she would do something like this for me. She is just a phenomenal person.

“She was very determined that I have this kidney. I think we are very much alike in that we have ‘get-it-done’ personalities. On the way from Toronto, her plane was delayed three times because of bad weather. She was going to drive the ten hours to New York, but then the plane got back on track.”

The transplant took place on June 30 at New York Presbyterian Hospital. The women have both been released and are now recovering.

Both of Mrs Barton’s kidneys were damaged during surgery for endometriosis, in 2007.

“It took surgeons nine hours to separate my organs from scar tissue left by that disease,” she said. “In the process my kidneys were damaged.”

One kidney functioned at 17 per cent; the other at 71 per cent. Doctors told her she was fine and her GP regularly took blood to monitor her health. He never shared the results and she never asked for them.

Three years ago she did a stress test at work and the administering physician asked to see her blood work.

She was shocked when he asked how long she’d had chronic kidney disease.

The physician found that lab workers had flagged up blood tests indicating her kidneys were failing but her GP failed to act on them or inform her.

“I felt very hurt and betrayed,” Mrs Barton said. “He should have long ago sent me to a nephrologist, but instead hung on to me as a patient for several years. If he had done that in the beginning, the problem could have been dealt with through a stent. He blamed it on me.”

By the time nephrologists examined her, both kidneys had failed.

“My work is in preventive healthcare,” she said. “Kidney disease is a preventive disease. If I would have known five years prior I could have done a lot. I could have started a renal diet which helps you to elongate the process. Instead, I was on a healthy diet which actually made matters worse.

“When I finally figured it out, I started doing what I do best, I started a prevention regime for myself. I did everything humanly possible to stave off going on dialysis.

“They told me to go on it three years ago, but I wanted to see if I could handle it.”

Ms Barton said by the time she walked into the hospital for the transplant last month she was “on her last legs”.

“I was having bad nausea, cramping, and body aches,” she said. “Everything was falling apart. You don’t realise how much the body depends on your kidneys until something goes wrong.

“Recovery has been very rapid. The day after surgery I was able to eat all the foods I haven’t been able to eat for the last three years — yoghurt, bananas. I could only eat very bland foods like white rice. I was so excited to eat a banana again.”

For Mrs Barton, the lesson learnt is to take control of your health.

“Doctors aren’t God,” she said. “Get a second and third opinion on health matters. I had three years’ worth of blood work that I didn’t see. I did undervalue the importance of being the captain of your own boat.”

She said the healthcare system in Bermuda has its flaws, which she is helping fix, as chairman of the Bermuda Health Council.

“Nobody should have to go through what I have been through,” she said.

Mrs Barton is hoping to return to Bermuda in September.