Praying for a A+ kidney donor

[ShareefLove]

I was born with a hereditary condition called Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) and need a transplant. If I receive a transplant soon, I will avoid dialysis, which is debilitating. My blood type is A+ and I live in Florida. Please reach out to me if you are interested in donating a kidney

[DSKdonor NKF Ambassador]

Hello. Wishing you the best of luck, but... there are some things you can do to help yourself and boost your chances of receiving that kidney for a transplant!

Have you been to your local transplant center? If not, that's the first place to start. Once you're listed (cleared medically and officially put on the transplant list), there are more options other than just "waiting" on the list for your turn. You can try to find your own living donor - not an easy task, but very important. Once you have someone willing to donate, even if they're not a match for you, they could be for someone else and through your transplant center, you can work with them to go for paired donations or through the National Kidney Registry for their voucher program. BUT - it all starts with your local transplant center listing you first, then finding someone willing to donate.

[ShareefLove in reply to DSKdonor]

Thank you for your reply DSKdonor. Yes, I am registered with my local transplant facility. But I am also doing my own searching, instead of just "waiting" for my facility to contact me.

[DSKdonor NKF Ambassador in reply to ShareefLove]

That's EXACTLY what you need to do - get your story and request OUT THERE to anyone and EVERYONE!

Post signs (where legal), post on social media, email campaigns, family, ask family to ask their friends and on their social media, and work through your transplant center as well!

Best of luck to you!

[Hidden]

Sorry to hear the news. 11 people in my family have PKD. I reached ESRD in August 2020 and had living donor transplant in September of that same year. What I do know, is that it can be very difficult to manage all the potential options such as dialysis/transplant. The nice thing about ESRD is there are viable options for treatment. As such, I would suggest the following:

1. You and your doctor need to be advocates. Find yourself a good nephrologist who can help guide you along the toward both dialysis and transplant.

2. Locate a transplant center that meets your needs.

3. Don’t be afraid to share your story. If you do not have a living donor, you might use social media to tell people your story. My uncle found his living donor — sort of a long lost friend — on Facebook. Cool!

4. Be prepared for the occasional, frustrating setback. Remember to keep advocating for yourself despite these setbacks.

I can faithfully recommend these things since I had a good and bad nephrologists; visited transplant centers who thought I was to much risk; and had plenty of setbacks.

Sending positive vibes your way 😊

[Dakotatp]

Searching for a living donor is tough. Be mentally prepared for most of your friends and family members to say no. That has been the hardest part for me. So far I have had 7 people sign up. 2 backed out and 5 got medically rejected. The hospital was excited when 7 people quickly signed up to be my donor, but to be honest I thought I was going to have more. This experience can truly reveal who is true to you. Good luck.