The Gift of Life Blog: Becoming an Altruistic Kidney Donor

A friend in need...and a friend, indeed!

My friend, Angel, arrived for a visit yesterday on the day I lost my job. If it wasn't for her, I'm sure my weekend would have been very different.

We went to Knott's Scary Farm this evenign to celebrate Halloween and I completely forgot about what happened yesterday. I felt like a kid again as I watched people of all ages enjoying themselves riding the roller coasters, being "scared" by ghouls in the many haunted houses, and being entertained by various costumed creatures.

More fun is planned for tomorrow!

A loss of employment, but not hope!

I can't say I didn't see it coming. I lost my job today. After a month of being questioned as to why our referral rate is down, and my explanation of what I'm being told in the field as I make my calls, just does not satisfy the administration. I can't say I blame them; however, their treatment of me has been horrid.

I look to the future with hope. I know the Universe, God, will provide all that I need to make it...as it has always been. I know my path. I believe in my skills. I have faith that a new position will present itself. At this moment, all I can focus on is supporting myself and donating my kidney to someone whose life is in need.

Each day is a challenge...

I am doing my best at work, however, because of the current economic crisis, the referrals just aren't coming in for my employer as much as I want. I average about 90 miles a day in driving to medical groups, hospitals, case manager offices, and insurance carriers.

I hear the same thing over and over...the workers comp cases just aren't in Orange County like they used to be. I keep my fingers crossed that business will pick up. I can't lose my job!

Back to work...and reality sets in!

Several months ago, when I mentioned to Denise Kennard, the administrator of where I work, that I was going to donate a kidney, she was very supportive.

Since then, a new administrator has been hired, and the atmosphere has changed. No longer am I being encouraged to donate. You would think that a home health care company would consider what I'm doing as a good thing. I'll have to wait and see how they feel once I get closer to the operation.

Another great day at the Women's Conference...

When I think it was five years ago when my journey started, I can't believe it! I met so many wonderful women during the two-day conference who are also on incredible journeys.

Bless First Lady Maria Shriver and her staff for an even better conference than last year's (every one is better than the previous one).

A great day at the Women's Conference where my journey started five years ago!

I finally got the news today that I passed the second round of testing to become an altruistic kidney donor! The final round is the stress test and a meeting with the doctor who will perform the operation.

My transplant coordinator, Suzanne McGuire, and I talked about last week's 18 person kidney chain. She hopes that I can be a part of the next one! 

I also attended the Women's Conference and had my picture taken with First Lady Maria Shriver, who I hold in the highest regard. If you would like to read about how the idea for my book, The Heroine's Journey, was born during the October 25, 2005 Conference, go to www.womenrisingnow.com.

Today was also a day in which I met one of my heroes, Nicolas Kristoff, an incredible reporter from the New York Times who has written a book with Mukhtar Mai, the first woman in Pakistan's history to bring the men who raped her for tribal honor to justice! He also wrote the introduction for another woman who is in my book, Somaly Mam, a courageous Cambodian woman who was sex trafficked by someone she thought was her grandfather. Mam now raids brothels and rescues young girls from this horrible life.

This was a rare day indeed!

Another night of reflection...

After reading about the rare transplant chain at UCLA that was reported in the LA Times a few days ago, I am even more convinced that UCLA is the safest hospital to be a living donor. I thought not just about the 18 patients who received kidneys and the loving donors, but also about their family members and friends, neighbors, colleagues, and even strangers whose lives have been touched by this tremendous event.

My hope is to someday become a spokesperson to inspire others to give this precious "Gift of Life!"

From the LA Times...

UCLA Medical Center paired up 18 patients as part of a rare transplant chain.

Dr. Hans Gritsch, left, and Dr. Brian Shuch perform a kidney transplant on Donna Morrison, 67, a retired flight attendant from Santa Ana. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times / October 22, 2009)

Molly Hennessy-Fiske, a reporter for the LA Times, wrote on October 23, 2009 about 18 patients who were paired by surgeons as part of a rare transplant chain at UCLA. Each link represented a paired donation in which a donor gives a kidney to a stranger, trusting that another stranger will donate a kidney to his or her loved one in return.

These chains are difficult to build, because of the trust that is needed as well as medical complications. Donors and recipients must have compatible blood types and antibodies. Surgeons usually perform multiple transplants simultaneously in adjacent operating rooms so transplanted kidneys stay healthy and donors do not get sick or back out of the operation and break the chain.

Network officials are developing a national registry that they plan to launch next year with five pilot sites, including UCLA. That could lead to an additional 1,000 to 2,000 kidney transplants annually, according to Dr. Bryan Becker, president of the New York-based National Kidney Foundation.

For now, donor pairs rely on smaller networks, including the National Kidney Registry in Babylon, N.Y., which started keeping a list of paired donors two years ago. UCLA surgeons used the registry to build the latest donor chain, their fifth and one of about a dozen the registry coordinated nationally this year, a spokesman said.

Hospitals generally do not allow members of a transplant chain to meet before their operations in case a donor backs out, however, UCLA surgeons allowed the first few pairs of the latest chain to meet at the hospital the day after the first batch of surgeries.

All are doing well and met for the first time at the hospital on Friday.

A change of focus...

This weekend my thoughts are with my daughter, Elke, who is moving back to Chicago this weekend. Since I decided to become a kidney donor, I have to admit I have been thinking about little else. Life around me goes on while I wait for my to get a jump start.

I attended her going away party and several people asked about my decision to become a donor. I never mind sharing why I decided to do this.

Will I ever hear about my latest test?

Even though it seems like the waiting is the worst part of becoming a donor...I'm sure it's worse for the recipient.

I was told late today, that there have been so many CAT scans lately, that the results are slow to come in. They normally take a week, but it has been almost two since I took mine.

Here's hoping to hearing early this coming week!