New with many questions

[CARas]

I got a tweet from a friend of a friend , she was looking for a donor for her husband so that got me interested in doing a donation. I don't know why I never looked into this in the past but now I am.

I do not know anyone who needs a kidney but I want to donate. I live in Oregon what I would like to know is do I go to the hospital here and start the process? We do have a medical school Oregon Health Sciences University. Or do I contact a "major" medical center like UCLA, Stanford, UC Davis? Once I get through all the hoops and find out I am able to donate then do I go on some list and wait to be contacted? Do I need to be actively looking for a recipient? Would I be expected to anywhere in the US or just the west coast?

Thanks for any information or links you may be able to provide.

Cathy

[lawphi]

If you would like to be tested for your friend's husband, you would need to contact her and ask what center to contact.  She should have a packet for you to complete and mail to the center.  You would first have blood work done to see if you are a match.  You may have the option to enter a paired exchange and you donate to someone else for your friend's husband to receive a kidney.

If you want to donate to someone you do not know, you can contact your local transplant center or any center in the United States.  You can be compensated for the cost to travel to and from a center.  Also, I would research how many living donor operations the center performs. 

You can also enter a paired exchange and allow more than one person to receive a kidney or request to donate to a child. 

[Fr Pat]

     Two sites where you can sign up to donate a kidney to a stranger are:
www.paireddonation.org
www.kidneyregistry.org
     At both of these sites they would start the process of matching you with someone who needs a kidney and has a willing but imcompatible donor. You donate to that patient, and that patient's incompatible donor donates to someone else, whose incompatible donor then donates to someone else... thus setting off a chain of otherwise impossible transplants.
     It is now possible to donate a kidney at the nearest transplant hospital, and then they can safely transport the kidney to someplace else for the transplant.
     Keep reading up and getting well informed about the small but genuine risks involved (including financial/insurance risks) before you make your decision.
     I donated to a stranger 9 years ago (they didn't have the "chain donation" system running then) and it went fine.
         best wishes,
             Fr. Pat

[CARas]

I have spent a good part of today researching and reading information about kidneys and kidney transplants. My brain is on overload now :-)

I called one of the local hospitals  OHSU and left a message with the living donor coordinator. I hope she gets back to me this afternoon. I am eager to at least get local information and see what there specific protocol is.

I am pretty healthy overall and I do donate blood on a regular basis. The only thing I am really worried about is my weight which I am losing but still have a little ways to go. I have never smoked. don't drink (hardly ever) no disease in my family except my mom is diabetic but that is fairly recent.

[PhilHoover]

The University of Alabama-Birmingham Renal Transplant Center.....one of the VERY BEST in the nation....they will take GREAT CARE of you.

[CARas]

 Phil,

 If I only lived close to U of A. I am in Oregon. We have two top hospitals plus I am not too far from U of Washington up in Seattle.

Still waiting to hear from the coordinator at OHSU

[reecelj]

Legacy Good Samaritan has done four or five exchanges with the Alliance for Paired Donation, and they are actually one of the few programs that has entered non-directed donors (i.e. those who don't know someone to whom they wish to donate.) I'm sure they would be happy to speak to you. Feel free to email me at admin@paireddonation.org if you would like more info.

Thanks,
Laurie

Laurie Reece
Alliance for Paired Donation

[ohtobeahayes]

I love this thread and just wanted to say thank you for even wanting to donate!

Most of us don't think of living donation until a need arises with someone we know, or we see a story on the news or read a story in the newspaper or magazine.
There seems to be a bit of a difference between people who have someone close to them in need- the emotional ties there make it a lot harder in some cases (not all) than people who hear about it, like you did, and just know that it's something you can do. All living donors are heros with an incredible capacity to give, whether they are directed donations or non directed.
Happy researching and learning! There are very many options open to you! I hope you heard back from the living donor coordinator and have some information coming to you!
Nicki
(non directed donation chain 7/13/10)

[lawphi]

I can't stress the value of starting a non-directed donor chain.  It allowed for me to help my husband recover before I donated.  He was able to do the shopping, lifting and driving while I recovered.  My recipient's wife will continue our chain very soon. 

It was a blessing not to be laying on an operating table and have to worry that my husband was in surgery.   
 

[CARas]

Legacy Good Samaritan has done four or five exchanges with the Alliance for Paired Donation, and they are actually one of the few programs that has entered non-directed donors (i.e. those who don't know someone to whom they wish to donate.) I'm sure they would be happy to speak to you. Feel free to email me at admin@paireddonation.org if you would like more info.

Thanks,
Laurie

Laurie Reece
Alliance for Paired Donation

Laurie I spoke to someone at PNTB. She gave me quite a bit of information and a link to their website. She told me both OHSU and Legacy Good Sam do transplants. I am right on the border with my BMI right now but I am working on losing weight, the only other thing that has me worried right now is that my mom has diabetes adult onset only within the last few years. I don't think she has to take insulin or any other meds just careful with what she eats.

 I will email you with questions, I still have quite a few.