September 19th, 2011 | 
Author: Altruistic Living Kidney Donation
Have you ever thought of giving your kidney to someone – when you are still living? It is called Living Kidney Donation. You can donate to family, friend, work colleage or someone you just heard about.
You can also donate to a total stranger. Someone you have never met, never heard of and never likely to know much if anything about. This is called Altruistic (non-directed) donation.
If you would like to know more about the procedure to become a living donor then please check out the links on the left of this page starting with Kidney Donor Evaluation begins. If you follow through the posts it will take you through the whole evaluation process including getting HTA permission; finding a recipient; the operation and recovery process. You can also learn more by clicking on the links at the top of the page including why I became an altruistic living donor.
22 Responses to “Become a Living Kidney Donor – Giving a Kidney is a wonderful thing to do”
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Why would you want to donate to a stranger? Save it and give it to someone you know. How selfish! what if family need kidney, you would have given yours away to someone you dont even know. Stupid if you ask me!!! Sorry but am sitting here mouth open wondering what you are at. no wonder only a few donations so far, people not so crazy as you.
Hi George,
Thanks for finding my website and posting your thoughts. I am glad you posted because your thoughts are those of quite a few people. Generally not having the full picture will often lead people to wrong conclusions.
I will address some of your points. When deciding to donate my kidney to a stranger, I looked long and hard at the possibility of maybe a family member needing a kidney. Now, there are a variety of reasons as to why someone may need a kidney transplant. They can be born with kidney disease, or it can be hereditary. Bad lifestyle can lead to a type of diabetes which in turn can lead to kidney failure. As far as my family is concerned none of the above really apply. No one was born with kidney problems. There is no known hypertension or diabetes in the family. We all have a healthy lifestyle eating sensible foods and getting enough excersise. The chances of any family member every requiring a kidney would be extremely unlikely. Apart from that, just because I am related to a family member does not mean I am compatible with them when it comes to a transplant. Often I hear of cases where close family cannot donate as they are not compatible. So the chances of me ever knowing anyone who would need a kidney was so unlikely as not to really be part of the larger picture.
But what I did know was that there were thousands of people out there that did need a kidney. I may not have known them personally, but I knew some of them would die without a kidney; others would spend years of dialysis (type of life support machine). Dialysis is not pleasant, many complications can arise from it and the person and their family can really struggle to have any sort of decent life at all. I was in a position where I knew I could help someone have a second chance at a good life and I wanted to do that. So I did.
Because I knew I could help someone by giving them my kidney and because the procedure and risks were more than acceptable, to me I would have been selfish not to have given my kidney. I did not want to wait until I died then “hope” my kidneys could help someone. There are no guarantess that organs after death are useable. I wanted to make sure at least one person got helped now.
The reason there have been so few altruistic donations in this country so far, George, is because it was only possible as from late 2006 to do this. There was no framework or guidelines in position to allow this type of donation. You could donate to someone you knew, just not to a stranger. Because the whole process can take the best part of a year or longer, it takes a while for word to get around that it can now be done.
In the first full year of altruistic donations (2007/08) 10 people were approved to donate to a stranger. In 2008/9 there were 15, in 2009/10 there were 23 and in 2010/11 there were 40. As you can see, although small in numbers the increase in donations is doubling and 2011/12 will be even better.
I can fully understand people not wanting to do this. But I hope you can understand more now why some people do want to do this and why it is not so selfish or scary or crazy or stupid as some people think.
All the best
Di
I have just heard your The Choice radio programme as detailed in the posting below. I can hear you are quite emotional about the whole concept of giving a kidney. I cannot say I can see it myself, but respect your thoughts and feelings on the matter. I still think you are crazy (but in a nice way) and I wish you luck in the future. The person who got your kidney is a very lucky person I hope they take care of it. Charlie wasn’t it?!
Couldn’t you think of any other way to help people than going through an operation. That is what I don’t understand. Why give a kidney when there are so many other ways to help that do not involve risking yourself.
Hello George,
How kind of you to listen to the programme and I hope you understood more how I feel about the whole subject of organ donation. I do feel very passionate about organ donation, whether living donation or cadaver donation. More people should sign the organ donor register. If only they could see and speak to people on dialysis who are waiting for a kidney I am sure it would affect them emotionally.
lol ! yes it was called Charlie!
George, it wasnt a matter of trying to think of a way to help someone and so I picked this way. Also we dont only have to help in one way, we can help in as many ways as we are physically capable of. I help where I can but when I heard that by giving a kidney to someone I could make such a huge difference in their life it was something that I needed to look into more. I cannot think of anything else that I am capable of doing that would make such a huge difference to someone and to their family. The older I get the less I can do, especially as I have an under active thyroid which controls my daily activity and limits my ability to do things. So giving a kidney was ideal for me to do and the more I looked into it the more passionate I became about helping someone off dialyis and back into a normal life.
I dont have any family at home, so I had no dependants who might have been affected by my donating. I was in just the right time of my life to do this. Had I still had children at home I would not have donated. My family does and always will come first as there would have been plenty of time once they had grown up to do this. But my family was grown up and left home years ago.
I appreciate this is not for everyone to do. Heck you would never get me running a marathon, yet those that do train for months and months and earn lots of money for charities, they do marvellous work, and can keep on running marathons. So you see, what one person feels comfortable with is not to someone elses taste. I had no fear of hospitals, I had 100%+ faith in the doctors, surgeons, nurses etc. If during the evaluation process I had any doubts, then I would have walked away. Donating my kidney was not something I was going to do regardless ….. as you heard on The Choice I spent a long long time examining all aspects of this including the moral aspects and emotional issues that may arise. I also spent a long time examining “me” to make sure I was doing this for the right reasons. I must have spent over a year coming to this decision to donate.
Thank you for posting your question and I hope you can understand a bit more about why I and many others have done this. We are not crazy or stupid. I don’t believe we are on this earth to live lives just concentrating on our own little circle. We are all brothers and sisters on this earth and I certainly cannot stand by and not help someone, if I know it is within my capability to help them.
All the best, enjoy rest of weekend, meant to be sunny. don’t blink or you may miss it.
Di
George,
Everyday we take risks, we could be involved in a fatal accident each time we go out, but we still do it! The risks of donating a kidney are small, potential donors are thoroughly screened – that and their familys medical history, and they have to see a physchiatrist to make sure they are not insane! People can live a normal life with just one kidney.
Many people are on dialysis, they have to watch their diet and restrict the amount of fluid they can take each day, dialysis takes place several times a week for several hours at each time, how restricting that must be.
Transplants are not a cure, recipients hopefully are able to live a better quality of life after a transplant.
I, like Diane, and others donated my kidney to a stranger, if ever I happen to need a kidney in the future then I will just await my turn like thousands are doing each day.
Hi
I’m glad i came across this site whilst researching kidney donation. My mum is in danger of kidney failure and may be facing dialysis so it is my natural response to look into donating one of mine. My mum is diabetic and so am i so im not sure if the medical team will let me do it but i know its something i really want to do. I love my mum to bits and want to keep her as long as i can.
I’m so glad that there are people like you Di out there taking part in unselfish acts of great kindness. Without you and others like you many people would be facing life on dialysis and we know how miserable that would be.
Reading some of the messages on here has so far filled me with hope and optimism and given me some courage to go ahead and (hopefully) donate.
Thank you.
Jackie
hello,
Am Gregory ,64yrs of age.
May i heartily thank God for a successful kidney transplant and also all thanks to the young man whom allocated and helped me find a donor that has helped my life.i came to understand that there are millions of people out there that are really willing to help a life but are greatly disposed due to inability to reach out the information to the world due their location.It started as a joke and i thought it was but i explored with him,today,am better.he has really created a chain and helped willing disposed donors to reach the world.i urge and advice my fellow people out there on the waiting list and dialysis to sit up and explore out by themselves and God will see them through.
Thanks.
Hello Gregory,
How wonderful you got a transplant. I am just so pleased for you. Being part of a chain also is fantastic. It is amazing what can be done. We must never give up hope and I know my faith in the Lord has taken be down paths I would never have normally chosen but they have always been the correct paths.
How lovely to wake up to reading this.
I wish you well for the future. Spread your good news. If you woul care to elaborate on your story, I can feature it so many people can read and get hope or get inspired. If so just contact via the contact page. Link top right of this page.
God Bless
Di
xx
Jackie,
Hi, thanks for finding this site and for posting.
I am so sorry about your mother – a worrying time for you all. If you have diabetes leaving you with one kidney might put you at further risk so I am not sure about you donating, really only your local transplant unit can answer that one. If your mothers kidney problems are due to her diabetes then sometimes they like to do a kidney and pancreatic transplant at same time as then the diabetes goes. Can you give your transplant centre a ring on Monday and ask them about the possibility of you donating? At least you will know one way or another as maybe not so clear cut as a yes or no?
I hope you will post back and let us know what you find out. But above all .. have hope!! Hope is something we all need in our lives regardless of the problem facing us. Even if your mother does go on dialysis somewhere out there will be a kidney, whether it is yours or someone else’s, you both just need to be strong and to keep Hope in your Heart. Hope helps keep you strong.
Please let us know what you find out. If you wish at any point to contact me privately then please use the contact form on this site (link top right of page) and I can then let you have my email address.
All the best
Di
xx
Hi Samantha,
I actually donated, I didn’t receive a transplant. Information given is about altruistic donation.
Thanks
Di
Thank you for posting such a clear and informative piece about the procedure and you are very lucky to have received a transplant. This is very real and very scary and only through people willing to donate their organs (organ donation) can we truly help each other.
Hello there,
Just wanted to say my faith in the human race has been totally restored. The news is so often full of the horrors of human nature and not the goodness. I remember way back when the 10′oclock news always ended on a light note to send us all to bed with a smile instead of a tear.
I do dread operations so donating my kidney could not be an option. Having readheard your story I wish it could be an option.
I do know someone who did donate to a stranger. A member of our church did end of last year. I didn’t think too much of it at the time then heard your radio programme with Michael Buerke and it made me sit up. You are so passionate about what you did it was truly inspiring.
Well done to everyone who has donated regardless who to.
I have signed the donor register though.
Mick, Poole, Dorset.
Hello Mick,
Sorry for late response. I remember well the late night news when a really light hearted piece would end the day, it did seem to dilute all the bad stories for sure.
Donating a kidney is not for everyone. One has to be totally at ease with the whole process. Donating is just one of many ways in which we can help people.
I am delighted you heard the radio programme, I know I enjoyed making it and even more so that many people have been inspired by it and have put themselves forward to donate, how wonderful is that.
I do feel very passionate about organ donation. Not just living donation. If only everyone would sign the organ donor register many more lives could be saved. It takes so little effort to sign up – heck, what a legacy to leave behind for your kids, that people did something really great by giving someone their life back – just takes a minute or so to sign up. More than one life can be saved too.
Thank you for posting and please spread the word.
All the best
Di
x
What an inspiration you are. I spent most of the weekend working my way through your blog. My wife died four years ago from kidney failure. None of us were compatible with her for a transplant. I know at the time she would have wished I gave my kidney to someone and it has brought back the conversations we used to have while reading your blog. I am quite emotional typing this as I know I want to donate a kidney to someone. I would not wish anyone to lose someone like I did because there was not a kidney available. There then came a stage when my wife was too ill for a transplant. If I can give my kidney and help save someone then there is one family less to grieve. You have answered so many questions I had regarding donating. The emotional aspect of what I may face also concerns me and listening to your radio programme showed me some questions I needed to know answers to. Would you mind if I contacted you direct and talked over the donation process.
You seem so passionate about your donation. At times you were quite emotional about it. It must have meant a lot to you to donate, such an inspiration you really are.
God Bless you and thank you.
Andy R.
Hi Andy,
Thank you so much for posting. I am sorry to hear about your wife, I cannot imagine how devastating that must have been. It is accounts like yours that should make people open their eyes and if they have not, to go and sign the organ donor register.
It took me about a year to come to the final decision to donate. Although I had already made up my mind I wanted to right at the start, I knew there were many questions about the whole process I needed to find answers to. Not just the obvious ones of the operation, recovery and living with one kidney etc but the moral and emotional aspect as well especially if family involved. I needed to make sure I would be able to deal emotionally with whatever the donation process threw at me. So it was not a 2 minute decision to do this. It isn’t just the physical aspect but emotional as well that needs addressing. This is why I was so excited to do The Choice programme with Michael Buerk as it gave me a chance to examine aspects of the donation process that don’t really get much airing. So yes, it is good you are thinking about the emotional side as well.
Of course I don’t mind if you contact me, I will be delighted to be able to help you any way I can. If you use the contact form, link top right of this page, and send me the email address you would like me to use, then I will get back to you asap.
I am so thrilled my account of donation has inspired you to rethink the donation process. Look forward to hearing from you.
Di
x
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george, my mum has kidney failure and has so since she was 18, she is now 45, i am not trying to cause an argument but i feel very annoyed of how selfish you sound, people all around the world are in need of donations, if you gained kidney failure (i wouldnt wish this on anyone) but noone in your family was a match and you found a stranger who had a match and they turned round and said your a stranger im not giving it you im not crazy, you world would fall from beneth your feet, please consider what your saying before you do !
Joe,
I appreciate your comments and understand perfectly from your point of view, and of course your mum’s. I so pray she get’s a kidney soon whether from a cadaver or live person regardless of who they are. When I first posted, that was posting with ignorance not knowing much about donating a kidney when you ar alive. I did seem a crazy thing to do (crazy in a nice way as I said earlier), to risk your own life for someone you don’t know. Diane put me straight and gave an excellent explanation of why and how etc.
I don’t quite see your point of view though, as surely if you found a stranger that was a match they would have had to have put themselves through the evaluation, found a recipient then turned round and said no. Yes that would be unbelievably cruel. I don’t think I have heard of anyone that has done that and even “I” would hold my hands up in horror. I don’t think I ever said that having been evaluated and found a recipient that you did not know that one should then back out? I cannot even find anything that sounds similar to that. So I think somewhere you have greatly misinterpreted what I have said.
I still find it hard to understand why someone would donate to a stranger and put their own life at risk also if they have children of their own. What if they died when donating, would their children be proud or would they feel bitter towards their mother or father who put a stranger first? Donating to a known person when there is an emotional tie to me is different. I am not saying it is wrong at all, I have learned a lot since my first post. But if donating to a strnager was so acceptable why have there only been so few donations to strangers? I know the number is increasing each year but not to the extent it could. I don’t think I am alone in not wanting to risk my life for a stranger. Yes I may jump into the swimming pool to save someone but that would be an instinctive action. Going under major surgery where you could die, get DVT, and all sorts of other things, is a major decision when doing it for someone you do not know. I stand by what I say, that I don’t understnad why a stranger would do that, and I applaud the fact that they are braver than me. Maybe when I am older, no dependants and feel it is time to give back something to life I may think differently but for now I have too much to live for to risk losing it all for a stranger. I think that is quite a natural thing to think and many do.
I hope you read both my posts, as I am sure you did, in which case I cannot understand your comment. I totally respect Dianes actions, but I still don’t understand how one can risk ones life and familes future if there are children, for someone you don’t know. Now if you don’t like that, then I am sorry, you just have to accept it. Thousands of people think the way I do as they would have put themselves forward if they thought the same as you or Diane. Not all ove us are brave enough to risk our lives for someone we dont know. You need to appreciate that. There is no way I am going to risk leaving my kids fatherless to help get someone off dialysis, sorry but I am not. My kids do and always will come before a strange in these circumstances. When they are grown up and on their own and not dependant upon me, who knows, maybe then I will feel now is a good time and I may understnad more why people are prepared to risk their life or injury to do this. You need to respect that.
You say to consider what I am saying before I do. Why? I thought we had freedom if speech? Why can I not voice my opinion that I dont understnad why someone would risk their life in this way, I am only saying what thousands think. I also appreciated Diane’s answers and respected her decision to donate. Even if I didnt fully understand. I was being honest and if being honest means getting penalised then so be it. If you don’t like that, then that is your problem, but please do not try to stifle my conerns over this proceedure. If people did not speak up who were concerned then answers would never be given
I would still like to know where I said that having been evaluated and a stranger found for me to donate to, I then would refuse as that is exactly what you have said, as noone knows who is a match until the tests have been done.
But I agree, If I ever had kidney failure and a stranger came forward offered to give me a kidney then backed down, that would be devastating. So I also believe that anyone who wants to donat to a stranger makes sure 200% they want to do this so they are not going to back out and so leave someone devastated.
Yours
George
Hi Diane.
I looked for a site like this as i would like to be a living donor. I was just wondering how i would go about getting started. Would i just go to my GP or would i need to go to a specialist? It is something i have thought about for many years.
Yours
Scott
Hi Scott,
Thanks for making contact and an even bigger thanks for wanting to donate. Brilliant !!!
No need to go to GP (he/she will be kept fully informed of proceedings anyway by the hospital). You need make contact with your nearest Kidney Transplant Center and ask to speak with a “Live Donor Co-ordinator” and you can make your first appointment which will involve a chat and perhaps some initial testing. Or just a chat and you can go away and consider then get back to them. If you don’t know which Transplant Center to do to then check out this link http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ukt/about_transplants/transplant_units/transplant_units.asp – Not all centers will be that near necessarily. Mine was an hours drive away but then you don’t go there that often.
Read through my blog – the links top left column under “become a donor” and you will see step by step from donor perspective the evaluation process, operation and recovery. It helps greatly to know from a donor perspective what is likely to happen.
Any questions please just post or if you prefer to chat one to one then use the contact form – link top right of this page.
All the very best, let us know how you get on.
Di
x
Hi Diane.
Thank-you for the information. This was a big help. I have been looking for a way to do this for years as said earlier. I am looking through the links over the next few days to get an idea of what to expect from the process. I truly admire you for what you have done and I for one am glad that there are people in this world willing to help a complete stranger. I know if i was the one needing a situation i would be eternally grateful to anyone who would be willing to give me the quality of living back. I would be honored to be able to help someone in this situation.
I shall keep you posted on how the process goes.
Yours
Scott
Hi Scott,
With today’s technology etc removing a kidney is a doddle compared to how it used to be. In the old days they used to have to break a rib off to get to the kidney (shudder!!). But with leaps and bounds we now have keyhole surgery. I tell you what, I would rather have a kidney out than a tooth out at the dentist, I really would, lol!! Although no guarantees you would have keyhole the decision for keyhole or open will only be finalised once you are on the table!! But even so open surgery today again is so much easier than i ever used to be.
I am excited for you!!!
All the best
Di
x
In no way am I wanting to put other people off donating,
However sometime last year I donated to a stranger. The risks were explained to me and I was still very keen to go ahead – it was also mentioned about the risk of the recipient rejecting the kidney. Naively I didn’t really think that would happen as I’m youngish and my kidney function test results were excellent. I had the surgery and at first I was informed that the recipient was doing well, but 3 weeks afterwards I enquired again as to how the recipient was doing and I was informed that the kidney had failed in its new owner. I felt very sad, sad for the recipient, but also felt bad as though I had let everyone down from the whole transplant teams involved to the actual recipient. I do not consider myself as a donor, I just see myself as someone who had their kidney removed. As I said before I would never discourage anyone from donating, even after what happened I’m sure if I had another spare one to give I would.