Read personal accounts from people who have received a living kidney donor transplant, including how they found a living donor, what they experienced during their transplant journey, and how their transplant has changed their lives.
In 2009, I was a police officer on patrol and got into a pursuit with two guys on PCP. They crashed, one of them jumped on my back, and I ended up hurting my hand. The swelling wasn’t going down, so they did a blood test and found out I was in Stage 5 kidney […]
Hadley’s journey to transplant started pretty much at birth. Because she was born with a skin tag on her ear, the pediatricians recommended having an ultrasound of her kidneys to assess any potential complications. Sure enough, the scan showed Hadley’s kidneys were enlarged, so she was referred to a nephrologist. Over the next several months, […]
In April 2023, I was diagnosed with amyloidosis, a rare bone marrow disorder that destroys your vital organs. It went after my kidneys. Once I realized I needed a kidney transplant, I started to get educated about how that works. I found out that 80% of kidney transplants are from deceased donors, but you really […]
Having been diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (PKD) in 2011, I knew a kidney transplant was in my future, though the timing remained uncertain. PKD doesn’t run in my family, making my case unusual as I inherited it without a familial genetic link. In a remarkable turn, my brother stepped forward to donate his kidney […]
My kidney journey began almost a year into my career as a nurse. In 2020, I graduated from nursing school. I’d chosen nursing as a second career. I always wanted to be a nurse, and in my late 20s I was able to start down the path to becoming one. Unexpectedly, I began my career […]
All my adult life, I was in finance. In the early 2000s, there was a real boom in the market, so I made a lot of money as a young adult—probably more than any young adult should make. With all that money comes a lot of irresponsibility. In many cases, when someone is doing well […]
In 2009, I had a new doctor and was getting all the workups you get when you have a new physician, and they noticed elevated levels of creatinine in my urine. They did a kidney biopsy and told me I had FSGS, which is focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. My kidneys were only functioning at 39%. I was […]
My microsite saved my life. My kidney transplant journey started with an ATV accident about four years ago. I was crushed between an ATV and a tree, which caused catastrophic injuries including paralysis from the waist down, ribs through both of my lungs, and my left side being completely crushed. Luckily, there was another group […]
My name is Luiz, and I want to share my kidney transplant journey. I was a dialysis patient for two years. In those two years I went through many life changes that I assure you no one is prepared for! But I took everything that came my way with a positive attitude. The days I […]