Waiting to give

[Fred2123]

HI. I have been accepted to be a donor after all of the lengthy and time consuming testing. My question is, how long does it usually take to be matched up? It has been over 2 months now and I am getting anxious. There are over 100,000 people in the USA awaiting a new kidney. I don't know what the hold up is. Any comments greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

susan

[vegiedonor]

Thank You for considering to do this. I imagine the pandemic is really messing up things depending on where you are located. Testing for me took a day of "office/hosp." work and another 4 hours of actual testing. I was lucky as I hear this process can take a lot longer. Just for fun count how many vials of blood they take from you.

[Fred2123 in reply to vegiedonor]

Good morning. Thank you for your response. Yes I have been back-and-forth to the facility at least 20 times in 10 months for various testing. So I have been accepted as a donor and my question is how long after being accepted as a donor typically does it take for them to find a match? I am getting frustrated. Thank you for your speedy reply

[vegiedonor in reply to Fred2123]

This is really important to know. If your hospital is part on the UNOS sharing network you should be called upon within a few months (under normal conditions). Hospitals such as NYU, NYP/Cornell, Hackensack, Columbia are part of the system and will accept you quickly. Other hospitals can keep you waiting Forever since they want to keep everything "in house" and if you have a recipient using one of these hospitals and aren't matched they could die waiting. No joke. One of our local hospitals kept a recipient/donor waiting for over a year because they didn't have a match come in their door. Fortunately this couple went elsewhere.

[Fred2123 in reply to vegiedonor]

Thank you. That makes sense and I think that is what is going on :(.

[Worrylady in reply to Fred2123]

God bless you. I wish I will get your kidney, I’m on the waiting list.

[Crocheting-Cricket]

It totally depends on the hospital you are working with! And because of COVID, many places are still considering transplants as an "elective" surgery and holding off. Please talk to your Coordinator (you should have one at the hospital) and ask what's going on. My brother and I were very proactive (read: "pushy") when it came to getting answers to our questions and in the end, I had to write a letter to the Review Board to get it done when we did and NOT wait "a few months down the road". I too am appalled at the number of people on the transplant list! You are doing a wonderful thing!