My kidney recipient & me!
I met Greg when he was on dialysis. Now he’s healthy enough to do everything! In 2023, my mom told me about a Philadelphia man, who was a stranger to me, in urgent need of a new kidney. He wasn’t close enough to the top of the wait list. I looked him up on Facebook & offered him my kidney. It was the easiest decision in the world for me to make. There was no hesitation. I always wanted to regift one of my kidneys to a stranger because I have always had the gift of perfect health & wanted someone else to have that, too. I was already planning on giving one of my kidneys to “the next person on the wait list.”
Greg & me turned out to be not only a perfect match but only living fifteen minutes apart! It turned out that Greg was not cleared for transplant. My clearance for donation was running out. Eventually, I would have had to do the six month long medical/psych evaluation all over again with no guarantee that I would be accepted again. They’re very strict.
So, on 1/16/2024, I did what I always planned and donated my kidney to the next person who could use it, which happened to be a 50 something year old man in Minnesota who I never met & have no contact with. Since I did this through the National Kidney Registry, I was given a kidney voucher to give to anyone in the country. I gave it to Greg, and a year after my kidney donation, Greg received his new kidney through my donation to someone else.
Two lives saved through my one donation! Now I have two kidney brothers. Maybe I’ll meet the other one someday. In May, Greg & me had the honor of being invited to Penn Transplant Institute’s first living organ donor celebration! I am Penn’s first living donor to sign their Donate Life flag that will be hung up at the transplant center!!
Greg always wanted to do the 3k walk for organ donation, & this year was the first he was healthy enough with his new kidney. We did the walk together!
I’m just as healthy & energetic as I was with two kidneys. The joy of my experience never fades.
My body “lost” a kidney, but I gained a lifelong friend.
What a joy, what a life!
Our story is one for the books!
Donating my kidney is the best thing I ever did. I always say I wish I had 100 more kidneys to give to 100 more people. 💙🫘💚
He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother – Bill Medley
Xoxo Kim
