PHOENIX – Two women who bonded over their love for the Chicago Cubs are now connected even more deeply after a lifesaving kidney transplant.

Denise Vasquez, 54, received a kidney from 66-year-old Cathy Weadley during a January operation at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix.

“For baseball fans, spring training represents a time of renewal,” Vasquez said in a press release Thursday, a week before the Cubs’ first Cactus League game of 2025. “This year, I have renewed life thanks to Cathy.”

How Cubs connection led to kidney transplant

The women may never have connected if not for their Cubs fandom.

Vasquez moved from California to Arizona in 2020 to attend her beloved Cubbies’ spring training games more easily. She was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease in 2008 and had been receiving treatment to maintain her condition for years.

Weadley, meanwhile, is a retiree who lives a few blocks from Chicago’s iconic Wrigley Field and travels to Arizona annually to watch her team get ready for the regular season.

The women met for the first time before a 2022 spring training game at Sloan Park in Mesa, during an event for a Cubs fan charity group called Club 400.

When they reconnected for spring training in March 2023, Weadley learned that Vasquez would eventually need a kidney transplant. She also found out she shared Vasquez’s blood type of O positive.

“I knew then that I would be her donor one day,” Weadley said in the release. “There was never a doubt in my mind.”

During 2024 spring training, Weadley found out she could apply to directly through St. Joseph’s to be Vasquez’s donor.

After learning that she was a potential match, Weadley traveled to Arizona in October for the testing and evaluation process.

Friends have more Cubs games in their future

Vasquez, meanwhile, didn’t know her baseball buddy was also her donor until Club 400 held a match reveal on Dec. 29, after the St. Joseph’s transplant board approved the procedure. The operation was performed soon after.

“I’m so thankful that Cathy helped save my life — and I’m looking forward to seeing many more Cubs games together,” Vasquez said.

Lorrie Hartel, a living donor coordinator at St. Joseph’s, called the story a good example of the importance of National Donor Day, which was commemorated on Friday.

“We’re delighted for Denise and grateful for Cathy’s selfless act,” Hartel said in the release. “We encourage everyone to consider giving the gift of life through organ, eye and tissue donation.”

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