Considering donating a kidney want info/ experiences

[Potentialdonor00]

Hello, I am new to this forum so i'm sorry if this post doesn't belong here.

I am considering becoming a kidney donor to help someone in need but I am a bit apprehensive about it. I am blood type O+, in my 20s and a bit overweight would I even be accepted? Also if anyone has donated before how was your quality of life after and were there any noticeable changes? thank you all for any info.

[Michael]

A description of the evaluation process, surgery, recovery, and long-term risks can be found starting here: https://livingdonorsonline.org/kidney/

Several stories of kidney donation experiences are here: https://livingdonorsonline.org/donor-experiences/kidney-donation-experiences/

Hopefully, this information will get you started. Please feel free to post additional questions are you learn more.

[Fr Pat]

You can also, if you wish, post at the FaceBook pages of "Living Donors on Line" and "Living Kidney Donors Support Group". These days more donors and potential donors post there rather than here, so you would get more responses perhaps. I donated at age 56, 19 years ago and am doing fine.

[PastorJeff]

I donated in 2012 at the age of 61 to start a chain of transplants which means I donated to a stranger.  It was a great blessing as I got to know the man and his circumstances.  In 2019 my recipient died of cancer which because of immunosuppressants ravaged his body.  I said I started a chain, but the day after my donation I learned that the chain of seven had been broken when the next recipient was found to have a spot on his lung.  Another man did get a kidney because of me but I was quite disappointed.  I have spoken to groups over the years as a donor and have asked people to consider it.  I am not as passionate an advocate anymore but urge people to consider it with sober judgment as you seem to be.  One thing I would ask people to assume is this:  it is a sacrifice.  Obviously you are giving up a mass of nephrons.  But there are other aspects of that sacrifice that you may not discover till later.  I can only speak for myself.  My remaining kidney did not compensate enough to keep me from being diagnosed with CKD3.  A few years went by and I had an incident of atrial fibulation which can arise from kidney disease.  And it works both ways.  The Atrial fib can also damage my remaining kidney if left untreated.  That's what I mean by sacrifice.  There are many who seem to do quite well and you will find them here.  But no one should assume they will go unscathed by removing a major organ.   It was a great privilege to save someone's life for a time and use organ donation as an opportunity to honor God for his grace in my life.   Would I do it again?  It really does no good for me to try to answer that question.  Life doesn't work that way. 

[LookingForBloodTypeO]

Hello. If you are a Blood type O, please consider donating. My family member is a blood type O, and it is the hardest blood type to find/receive a donated kidney due to the compatibility of matching. Please do your research and please consider giving the very best gift: life to someone else, the gift of extension of life, the chance to walk away from the required dialysis processes (which are painful), the chance to be "normal". In advance, a loving family member.