Mother attempts to sell kidney as last-ditch effort in poverty

Katy Sorsher Smith, a single mother of two who works as a full-time employee and has found herself in a dire financial situation, posted on her LinkedIn account that she is selling her kidney and was looking for someone who needs it and is interested in buying. In a conversation she had Wednesday with Ben Caspit and Yinon Magal on 103FM, she painfully elaborated on how she found herself in her current and difficult situation.

"I am a single mother, who wants to make a decent living in this country. Unfortunately, I did not succeed, even with half the salary. I am really suffocating and I do not know what to do. I know it sounds shocking, but this is exactly my situation, and that of other single mothers in the country, most of whom don't even earn the salary I have," she said.

When asked how she found herself in her current financial situation, she elaborated.

"It's current expenses, school, rent that went up a lot. A few days ago it was raised by a thousand shekels; it's still below what's on the market, but it's suffocating. The difference is the thousand shekels they raised for my rent, I have no other room for anything else. You can manage, cut back, but you can't stop living. I want to make a decent living. I'm not afraid of hard work and that's not enough."

She continued: "The truth is, I have a degree from the Technion in landscape architecture, but when I graduated, the second intifada started, and there was no work. I currently work in media, specifically digital marketing. I bake cakes. I do everything I need to and it's still not enough," she shared painfully, referring to the kidney sale post.

One mother's struggle

She openly discussed her intention behind the LinkedIn post. "It is illegal to sell a kidney, anyone who knows me knows that I would give it for free if I could, but these are the thoughts that go through my mind. If I could, I would give it for free. This is the situation we have reached; this is not my original thought. You don't understand how many reactions [I] received, saying 'this is exactly what I'm thinking.’ There's nowhere to get it."

She continued to explain that "these are the exact thoughts that start to emerge, the need to find creative solutions to keep my head above water. Every day I jump the car at least twice because the battery has died. If I don't have a thousand shekels for the battery, what am I going to do? There is nowhere to take it. This is exactly the problem. I have a family here, two parents, and they're not in the best financial situation either. I can't take money from them; they give and help with other things."

At the end of her radio interview, Kathy presented her cake baking business. Due to her LinkedIn post, she’s had numerous inquiries.

"You can order; right now there are so many inquiries following the post. It's making me very hopeful and happy," she said. "You can contact me at 050-202-4212. Write to me, I'll get to everyone – I promise. I'm a person who was taught that if you work hard and do everything possible, you'll be good. I am representing an entire community of individuals for whom one salary is all they have; we fall between all the cracks, in all parts of government.

"This is a simply intolerable situation. We are a small community of tens of thousands of people, we have nowhere to turn. We are simply transparent."

To purchase cakes and desserts from Katy Sorsher Smith, call: 050-202-4212.