HCR 2042 LIVING KIDNEY DONORS DAY MARCH 8TH
Welcome to our site! We suspect you're either a kidney patient hoping to find a living kidney donor for your much-needed transplant, or you're someone who might be contemplating living kidney donation as a way to help someone in need.
Whichever the case, we thank you for stopping by to learn more about living donation as we honor all the amazing living kidney donors (LKD), like Kati, who donated a kidney to help someone in need live a better and longer life.
Living kidney donors don't require Superman or Superwomen prerequisites to qualify. Simply put: living kidney donors are extraordinarily kind people who are healthy enough to save a life while they are still living. They choose not to wait to give all their organs at the end of their life. Instead, they "share their spare" to impact someone's life today, while saving the rest of their organs and tissue to impact many lives when they won't need them anymore.
Living kidney donors not only improve, extend and save lives, they also give hope to kidney patients who are up against the life-threatening wait (>5-9 years) for a kidney from a deceased organ donor.
Living kidney donors also inspire ordinary people to seek extraordinary kindness in all walks of life. From our perspective, living kidney donors stand at the pinnacle of the most profound once-in-a-lifetime achievement award.
On living Kidney Donors Day we are reminded of these humble heroes. While they don't wear a Medal of Honor or a superhero's cape, hold a sign or a badge we salute them.
Living donors claim they aren't heroes, yet their tiny scars (hidden under their clothes) - and the person's life they saved, tell us otherwise.
Living Kidney Donors Deserve More Recognition
We believe living kidney donors deserve more recognition. The intention of Arizona's Living Kidney Donor Day campaign HCR 2042, and other states who followed our lead with Living Kidney Donors Day proclamations and protections in their states), we join forces to publicly honor these remarkable humanitarians, as extraordinary human beings who selflessly donated one of their kidneys to end the life-threatening wait for someone in need.
Living kidney donors are individuals who chose to donate a kidney (sometime during their lifetime) after obtaining approval from a transplant center's medical evaluation committee. Most living donors choose to donate because they either knew someone in need or simply wanted to help a stranger.
Witness the Miracle
Because living kidney donors choose to donate one of their kidneys while they are living,* they get to witness the miracle of their gift (and experience immense pride for their accomplishment) for years to come. *Living kidney donors also retain their right to donate their remaining organs later in life.
Just Imagine
Ever imagined what it would be like to save someone's life or improve the quality of someone's life by extending their remaining years- while you are still alive? Living kidney donors have transformed this dream into reality.
In this campaign, we're inviting real-life living kidney donors to show their proud faces, take a bow and elevate their story to help us increase awareness and inspire others to lean in this direction. Have they inspired you?
Hidden Organ Donor Facts:
The Need: Over 109,000 end-stage kidney disease patients are in desperate need of a replacement kidney.
The Wait: It can take 3 to 9 years to receive the gift of a kidney from a deceased organ donor on the national transplant list. Living Kidney Donation can end the wait.
The Benefit: Kidney transplants offer a far better alternative to dialysis. The benefits include, a better quality-of-life, fewer medical complications and longer survival rates.
Match-Making: Living kidney donors don't have to be blood-related to the recipient. They only need to be blood-type compatible. But even then, there are Paired Exchange Programs that can offer alternatives.
Know Your (ABO) Blood-Type
Your blood-type is necessary to determine if you'll be blood-type compatible with the person in need. You can either ask your doctor for a blood-type (ABO) test or seek a "direct-consumer" lab alternative. Direct-consumer labs allow patients to order lab tests with or without a doctor's order. Thanks to House Bill 2645 (sponsored by Arizona Representative Heather Carter, R-Cave Creek and approved by Gov Doug Ducey) this bill now allows consumers in Arizona the ability to request basic lab tests and access results through a secure online portal.
The Opportunity: Healthy individuals can donate a kidney while they are still living and continue to live a full life. In other words, kidney donors don't have to wait until after they've passed to donate. They do, however, need to pass the transplant center's donor qualification process in order to proceed.
Learn As Much As You Can
There's a lot to discover when it comes to living kidney donation. That's why we created the Top Twelve "Need to Know" Answers to the most frequently asked questions on living kidney donation. We encourage you to take the time to explore this handout. Learn more here: See Top Twelve Questions on LKD.
Watch Informative video: Family & Friends Learn More Here
Who Will You Help?
Do you have a specific person in mind? If so, contact that person's transplant center (the transplant hospital where the patient is registered) to express your interest and request an evaluation. If you don't know someone in need, simply contact a transplant center in your area (i.e.; hospitals that perform kidney transplants) to initiate a conversation about helping one of their patients in need. If you'd like to learn more about how to share the story of the person in need and help them find potential living kidney donors, read this book, "In Pursuit of a Better Life: The Ultimate Guide for Finding Living Kidney Donors." Feel free to share additional questions and communications here: contact us.
What’s In It For You?
While there are no trophies or medals, parties or parades or suitcases of money; there’s a lot to be said about the perpetual joy that comes through the act of giving another person a better life. In addition to helping reduce our country's kidney shortage, living kidney donors say that their reward is being able to witness how their kidney donation led to someone's “Life-Gain.” They often describe their experience as one of their most profound achievements ever.
Creating Awareness
It's going to take a nation of informed citizens to increase awareness in this life-saving opportunity. If your journey happens to end here (though we hope it won’t), we are most grateful that you took the time to visit this site and learn more about this need to increase awareness. Download Press Release.
For those who wish to support the cause, your tax-deductible financial contribution will help us fund the continuation of our efforts to increase awareness, educate patients and engage communities and help those in need secure and extend a better quality of life through living kidney donation. We thank you in advance for your support in our humanitarian efforts to save and improve the lives of those in need.
To Make a Tax Deductible Contribution visit: www.transplantfirst.org/go/contribute
*The TransplantFirst Academy is a 501c3 non-profit organization.
For those who would like to contact us directly to discuss aspects of this campaign please email our founder, Risa Simon at: risa@www.theproactivepath.com
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Top 12 “Need-To-Knows” on Living Kidney Donation
