Donate Life National Living Donor Day

April is National Donate Life Month and April 7th is living donor day. Since I am a living donor, I thought it was a great day to post about my experience and give you some fast facts about being a living kidney donor!

It was June 23, 2009 when I climbed onto an operating table at Mayo in Rochester and became a living kidney for my brother-in-law, Andrew. He is my husband's brother.  The transplant in 2009 was Andrew's second transplant. The first was a living kidney donation from his father almost twenty years earlier. At this point, when that kidney began to fail (twenty years is a long time for a transplanted kidney. 10-12 years is average), Andrew's only related living donor option was my husband, who began the extensive work-up for the transplant. It was then that an unknown health condition was discovered, and he was disqualified by Mayo as a donor. This happens more than you think, actually. More than 75% of people who want to donate can't due to a variety of different reasons be it health or financial. As a medical transcriptionist, I already knew that might be the case, so I got tested to see if we were a basic match. I was more than a little surprised to find out we were. Since we were already at Mayo, I agreed to undergo the initial workup and it was determined that I was a near perfect match. I had no health conditions to disqualify me, so we were given a green light  for donation. After zero consideration, we scheduled the date for June 23. That's only partially true. There was plenty of consideration but there was no hesitation. I wanted my children to know their uncle and if he was on dialysis, sick, or died while waiting on the transplant list, they would never get that chance. I would do whatever I could do to make sure that didn't happen. Besides, I had a spare I didn't need. ;) 

I learned a lot on that journey about myself and my family. Some good, some not so good, but all important lessons. Transplant day was a scary day, a happy day, a day of pain, a day of worry, a hopeful day, a new day, and a day I will never forget. I learned that persistence gets things done, love wins, do unto others, and it is better to give than to receive. I learned that our kids watch what we do more than they listen to what we say. I learned that one decision we make often starts a ripple effect in our life that we aren't expecting. In the twelve years since the transplant, my brother-in-law has finished his master's degree in art education, found a full-time job as an art teacher in his hometown, and bought a house. While he still deals with many health conditions related to his chronic kidney disease, he is able to mostly live his life on his terms and see his nieces and nephews grow up, graduate, and go off to college. I find satisfaction in knowing I had a 5 ounce part of helping him achieve those things, but nothing more. He has done the hard work over the years and while he will still need another transplant at some point in his life, I feel privileged to have been part of his life in this way.

1. Living kidney donation is the fastest option for people who need a new kidney. The transplant list is long, on average three to five years, and many family members don't want their loved ones to have to wait and get sicker than they already are. That makes living donors not only invaluable but often they save lives. Living kidney transplants have been performed since the 1950s and is the most common living organ donation done. 
2. Living kidney donation is safe. Before you can donate, the transplant team has to deem you healthy, therefore donating a kidney won't make you sick or give you major health problems. Surgery always carries some risk, but for the most part, living kidney donation is safe. 
3. You don’t have to be related to someone to be a living donor. The truth is, one out of every four living organ donors is not biologically related to the recipient ~ just like me. You often hear about transplant chains, where one person donates to a stranger, and a family member of that patient donates to a stranger and so on. As long as you are a match, you can donate to anyone.
4. You can live with only one kidney. Some people are even born that way. If you donate one kidney, your remaining one will do the work of both kidneys. I donated over twelve years ago and my lab work today is no different than it was with two kidneys.
5. You will have a full workup including blood tests, urine tests, imaging examines, cancer screening, and counseling before you can donate. Sometimes, that means an unknown condition is found, but that is why the workup is so stringent. They want to make sure they aren't putting the donor's life at risk by taking a kidney that they might need later on in life.
6. As a living kidney donor, your stay in the hospital is short and you'll be back to your family in one to three days and back to work in two to six weeks, depending on what you do for a living. You will have weight restrictions for six weeks, due to your incision, but the new laparoscopic techniques for organ donation have reduced the recovery time to almost nothing. Don't get me wrong, it hurts for a day or two, but then it slowly improves and you'll find yourself back to your regular activities quickly.
7. If you donate a kidney, you can still have a baby. Donating a kidney won't make it harder for you to get pregnant or deliver a baby, and it doesn’t cause fertility problems in women or men. Speak to your doctor if you're thinking about having children post-donation so you can plan for the best time.
8. There are many living kidney donors willing to talk to you about their experience before you agree to donate. If you're considering donation, ask your local Donate Life chapter or your transplant team for the names of a few people wiling to talk to you about their experiences. It's always good to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly from someone who has been through it.
9. You don't need to live in the same area as your recipient. Your testing can be done with a team near your home or you can work out a way to travel to the hospital where the transplant will be done. If you must travel, they will do the workup all at once so you don't have to incur more travel expense until it is time for the transplant. There are organizations that will pay for your travel costs and the recipient's insurance pays for your medical expenses. There is also a new law requiring your workplace to let you use family medical leave time for organ donation testing and recovery. You also get a tax deduction on your state taxes for being a donor.
10. The butterfly is the symbol used to represent organ donation. Organ donation transforms people's lives, and the butterfly is no better reminder of that.

It would be remiss if I didn't point out that there are always risks involved in any type of surgery or medical procedure. Agreeing to be a living kidney donor carries some risk with it,  as any medical procedure does.

• Disappointment. This can happen for many reasons whether it's because the recipient rejects the kidney, or it doesn't improve the relationship the way you were hoping it would. You should never donate an organ in hopes or expectation that it will improve a relationship. It might, but you have to be willing to donate the kidney for no other reason than they need it.
• Depression or anxiety after donation. The lead up to the donation is stressful and busy. After the donation you might experience a little bit of depression that everything is over, or anxiety over your own health. If you find that to be the case, your transplant team has a counselor they can get you in touch with to talk through it.
• Donating a kidney can effect your career and your hobbies. It's suggested that those living with one kidney avoid sports or careers where you could be involved in collisions. Martial arts, football, hockey, rodeo, soccer, and wrestling could cause damage to your single kidney. Careers like military, law enforcement, and firefighters could also be at risk of a collision, so make sure to discuss this with your family, doctors, and workplace leaders.
• Insufficient support before, during, or after donation. We all need physical, emotional, and financial support from our family, friends, and workplace. If we don't have that, it can make being a donor difficult or impossible. Make sure you have the support you'll need behind you long before you agree to be a donor. You'll need help getting to the hospital the day of the donation, you'll need someone to pick you up and drive you home, and maybe even stay with you for a couple of days afterwards. Make a plan and a back-up plan so the donation can go off without a hitch and you can save a life!

Even if you can't be a living donor right now, remember that you can still donate life! Visit Donate Life's website for more information on how to sign up as a donor and the best way to let your family know you want to be a donor should something happen to you unexpectedly. Every ten minutes another person is added to the transplant waiting list and twenty people die each day waiting for a transplant. While that sounds depressing, there is good news! One organ, eye, and tissue donor can change the lives of 75 people! Whether a person in need of a transplant gets one from a living donor or a deceased donor, their lives will improve 100 fold and that family will be part of your legacy too. It's so important that you tell your family, though. If they don't know your wishes about organ donation, they'll be less likely to agree when faced with loss and grief. You can visit The National Donate Life Registry as well for ways to make sure your family and your doctors know your wishes.

​I hope this information has helped clarify what it means to be a living donor and how you can change someone's life by sharing your spare. If you have questions or you're considering being a living kidney donor, feel free to message me through the website or contact me on social media. I'm always happy to answer questions or put you in touch with someone who can. Living donation changes lives in untold ways and being a living donor gives you a change to experience that firsthand.