I am in the process of bring evaluated to be entered into the paired kidney donor program with my friend. I am not a match for her, but hopefully through the program, we will both match for someone else and she will get her kidney.
Has anyone else donated through the paired donor program? Would love to chat with you!
Hello Scrapper19,
I was part of a paired kidney exchange. I indirectly donated to my co-workers mother. That was 4 and a half years ago. We were part of a 10-person chain, 5 donors and 5 recipients.
Let me know if you have any questions, I would be happy to help in any way.
Adrian
That is great! I initially had a hard time wrapping my head around d not giving directly to my friend, but am working through it.
Have you met your actual recipient?
Were your surgery and your I direct recipient on the same day/close together, or far apart?
I have never met my actual recipient. I know it was a male in his 30's somewhere in Ohio. I wrote a letter through my hospital to that person but I never received a response. I am okay with this.
My indirect recipient had our surgeries on the same day, my surgery was right before hers. We recovered together and we have grown very close these last 4 and a half years.
In my opinion the fact that your actual kidney may be used for another person does not diminish at all your act of kindness towards your friend.
I wish you and your friend the best of luck. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you so much! I am sure I will
Yes we are 2
Have you already donated, or still waiting for a mat h?
Hey Scrapper... I am on the paired programme also as wasn't a direct match for my friend... Got a call on Friday saying a match has been found and its gonna happen in about 4 weeks hopefully.. I too struggled a little at 1st but then realised it 2 peoples lives you are changing by going though the pairing programme... I want to meet the person who ends with my kidney.... Hope this is possible afterwards.... Good luck with yours...
Hi Mercerman,
Congrats on finding a match! Good luck with your surgery.
Knowing that I can help w people, one of them being my friend, has been big in helping me emotionally. I am meeting with a local living donor social worker this week, which I think will help also (I live in NH, but will be doing my surgery at Duke University in NC)
Hi! So Duke U is a great hospital and the area is fabulous. My hubby just donated to his mother last week- and I can say watching her recover (and any recipient is fascinatinf) in one week she’s got normal creatine levels. Our doctors (at Mayo Clinic) said that you are helping an unhealthy person get healthy- noble cause...while taking a healthy person and hitting them with a “truck”. And the neat fact with paired is (to me) that’s double the unhealthy people getting healthy!
Thank you! Great to hear such good stuff about Duke.... I was very I pressed when I went there for my evaluation
Aloha. Can you please give me update? Thank you.
I did not end up going through with the donation due to COVID, my friends health (much improved, and she is off the list for now), and some health issues I myself was having. But, I am willing to be reevaluated and donate in the future if needed
Thank you for replying. I'm at the very beginning in learning what I need to do to be a donor to my brother. He mentioned that if we don't match that there is another program for matching (I forget name) it's where I can donate to someone else that wasn't match to their donor and theirs can donor to my brother. Something like that. I'm still learning and doing my research. Can we stay in touch? Thank you.
Absolutely!
It is called the paired donor program. I went through the entire evaluation process, as did my intended recipient.
Had it not been for COVID, once we both were accepted, we would be listed in the paired donor pool and hopefully would have each found a match. We could have been the last 2 links in a group of 3 or 4 other pairs.
I initially was not sure about it, because my friend wouldn't be getting MY kidney, but then realized this might be even better... since there will be 2 people getting kidneys out of the deal 😊
Yes indeed! 2 lives....❤❤
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