Living Kidney Donation

Posts Tagged ‘living kidney donor’

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and I so hope 2014 will be a great year for many of you.

Thank you so much for your support of this website. It makes my day when I receive a comment or someone contacts me through the website wanting more information or support through their donation experience.  I love also hearing from recipients, or family members of donors or recipients. Thank you all so much.

I also want to pass my thanks on to all those involved in the kidney donation process. Not just the front line i.e. doctors, co-ordinators, nurses etc  but all those that help to keep the hospitals running smoothly who perhaps we never even get to see.  I have always said, donating a kidney is a great team effort. Without the medical people, caterers, cleaners, administration  and everyone who works at the hospitals – we would not be able to donate.  I cannot list everyone who is involved as to be honest I know there will be some I will leave out – because I don’t even know they exist as their work is behind the scenes.! Great thanks to them and everyone.  you are all so truly appreciated.

People wonder whether Miracles exist – if 200 years ago someone said “one day we will be able to take out an organ from a living person and put it inside another living person – and they will both continue to live” – I am sure they would have been shouted out of town as a mad person. Yet here we are today with this great Miracle happening.  What will the next 50 years bring …..  I find it exciting just thinking about it as I am sure there are huge medical breakthrough that will happen during that time.

For those first timers to this website – thank you for visiting. To find out what it is like being a kidney donor, please check out the links top left of this page under the heading “become a donor”.  I do so hope I can inspire someone to consider donating a kidney, whether it is to a family member or friend who is in need of a kidney – or whether you feel you just want to help anyone – no matter who.  I have never regretted once my donation and only wish I had more spare kidneys as would so willingly donate again.   What greater gift could anyone give or receive.

So … everyone have a really wonderful Christmas and after years and years of trying to find the proof that Santa exists – he was spotted the other night …….. I will leave you all on this wonderful picture to bring smiles and chuckles from many .

Proof at long last

Proof that Santa really does exist

I recently appeared on the Tonight programme “kindness of strangers” and later  on the BBC World News along with Dr. J. Lowney from matchingdonors.com to have a discussion on their organisation which was coming to the UK.

I contacted them to see if they would answer some questions that I and others had regarding their organisation and the role it had here in the UK.  They readily agreed to answer any questions I had but unfortunately, 5 week later they are still not answering any, regardless of repeated  requests. They are now ignoring me 🙂 .   Here is the (lengthy) list of questions I have put to them.  Anyone considering joining the organisation either as a donor or potential recipient may want to read these first before making a decision.  If matching donors responds to any questions I will publish them alongside the relevant question.

QUESTIONS:

The system

Paul Dooley is quoted as saying “The old system of ‘Give us your organ, we’ll decide where it goes’ no longer works. We have the ability to take our system to the UK and save their lives.”

Since the first non-directed altruistic donor was approved in 2007, the HTA have approved in total 160 donors 33 of which were approved in the first half of this year. There are also many potential donors being worked up at the moment with 30 at one transplant unit alone.

1.        Given that the altruistic donation system is very new in the UK, that the numbers of altruistic donors in the UK is increasingly very rapidly year-on-year, and also bearing in mind that the UK population, and thus the pool of potential donors, is a small fraction of that of the USA, on what basis can Paul Dooley justify his statement that our system is no longer working?

2.       Has matchingdonors.com had any legal challenges?

3.       Do all American transplant centres accept directed altruistic donors?

Patients

4.       Does your organisation inform transplant units that one of its transplant waiting list patients is registered with you?

To read more of the questions click this link
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I was challenged recently to try to explain what drives me to donating to a stranger and what is in it for me. If I were paid a large sum of money, then that could be understood as to the motives behind this. But with no apparent benefit – then why do it? Very good question and not always easy to answer.

Why do people decide to sail around the world or climb the highest mountains in the most atrocious of conditions? They are hailed as Explorers and record breakers and daring and brave! Who have they benefited by doing those things? Don’t get me wrong, they are courageous and brave and have pushed the boundaries of what the body can endure to the limit and beyond and I have great admiration for them. Why then when we decide to help someone lead a better life, we are often viewed as … crazy!

Why do we do anything though? Emotions drive us either to do something or not do something. Emotions that just seem to spring from nowhere.

Sometimes the drive inside us is so strong we just can’t ignore it. I had such  a desire inside me to offer one of my kidneys to someone who needed one. That desire just grew over time. I knew it was something I really wanted to do. Having said that, I did not go into this blindly. Even though my heart kept telling me this was something I wanted to do, reality also told me to investigate this, really look into it and then decide whether heart or head wins! I found nothing to dissuade me from doing this … so my heart won.

What do I get out of donating? I do agree that whenever we give, we do also receive, whether it is a great sense of satisfaction or disappointment should something go wrong.
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10th May

Great news. Got a letter from the Consultant Nephrologist advising that I am fit to proceed to further evaluation although I should lose some weight and come off HRT before being a donor.  The former I am working on! The latter will be fine over the short term and who knows maybe wont need to go back on it.  He is still waiting the results of other blood tests but they should present no problems.