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    Salamanca sends off 85 Warriors at 139th commencement
    Breaking News
    Salamanca sends off 85 Warriors at 139th commencement
    Kellen Quigley 
    June 27, 2025
    SALAMANCA — Before the 85 graduates in the Salamanca High School Class of 2025 received their diplomas Friday night, Class Speaker Danica Teeter remin...
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    Home News
    Randolph father donates a kidney in appreciation for his daughter’s life
    Submitted photo
    Cattaraugus County News, Local News, News, Randolph News
    Kate Day Sager | Special to the Press  
    February 27, 2017

    Randolph father donates a kidney in appreciation for his daughter’s life

    Over the past four years, 8-year-old Rosie Thrasher-Miller has lived a normal childhood — attending school, playing with other kids and, most importantly, thriving.

    Over the past four years, 8-year-old Rosie Thrasher-Miller has lived a normal childhood — attending school, playing with other kids and, most importantly, thriving.

    Thrasher-Miller of Randolph got her second chance at life at the age of 3 when she received a kidney transplant from an adult donor residing in the Southern Tier. Her success story appeared in the Olean Times Herald in April of 2013.

    Now, Thrasher-Miller’s father, Levi Miller, has given back to another person in need by becoming a kidney donor himself.

    News of Levi Miller’s recent act of donating a kidney was announced by Jeanette Ostrum, a founder of the Kidney Connection in Jamestown. Over the years, Ostrum and her organization have helped many people in the region receive life-saving kidney transplants.

    Rosie Thrasher-Miller’s mother, Virginia Miller, said her husband decided to help a woman with kidney failure after learning of her need online at the Kidney Connection website. A request was posted by the woman’s daughter.

    “Her daughter said she just wanted to have her mom back … (Levi Miller) realized he had the same blood type and we started testing,” Virginia Miller stated. “We then called Jeanette (Ostrum) and it all just worked out.”

    She said her husband didn’t have any second thoughts about the transplant and decided to “pay it forward” to the foundation because of their daughter.

    “He knows how important it is and that it needs to be done,” Virginia Miller said.

    She added her husband believes he will be laid up for approximately 12 weeks following the surgery.

    “We figured it out that we can have income to make it through,” she added. “His company is willing to hold his job because he’s not someone who takes off time and they know what it’s for — thankfully that part is covered.”

    Ostrum said the transplant was “amazing and the kidney started working right away.” In addition, the recipient and Levi Miller are both doing well.

    Ostrum said the Kidney Connection, in gratitude for Levi Miller’s act of selflessness, has set up a GoFundMe page slugged Rosie’s Pay It Forward Kidney to help the family financially until he can return to work.

    As for Thrasher-Miller, life has been good to her since her transplant.

    “She’s not quite as a big as her twin, Jasmine, but she’s growing,” Virginia Miller said of her daughter, who attends second grade in Randolph with her sister. The family also has one other child at home and two older children.

    Prior to her transplant, Thrasher-Miller had been in failing health while waiting for a kidney for more than a year. She and her twin were born prematurely and were both diagnosed with health issues at birth — Thrasher-Miller had kidney failure since infancy, and her sister has had two heart surgeries. Prior to her transplant, Thrasher-Miller had regular blood tests, frequent doctors’ and hospital visits and had to use a feeding tube. A woman who learned of Thrasher-Miller’s need for a kidney offered to become a donor after reading an article in the Olean Times Herald.

    For more information on the Kidney Connection, or becoming a donor, contact Ostrum at 450-8958.

    Tags:

    blood test heart surgery jeanette ostrum kidney failure medicine rosie thrasher-miller surgery transplant virginia miller
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    Salamanca Press

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    Cattaraugus County Source 06-26-2025
    Cattaraugus County Source, Special Sections
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    mkeim@oleantimesherald.com 
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