Moving forward

Well, hello there!  Guess what?!?!  I have an UPDATE!!!!



Y'all may remember that I mentioned in my last post that I had a potential living donor who has generously volunteered to go through the testing process.

Well...he isn't a match for me.

BUT... he's open to a paired donation, which is where they match us with another pair (or multiple pairs) to swap kidneys.  So, in other words, he won't donate directly to me.  Instead, his kidney will go to another person on the list who also has a living donor.  Then that living donor (or another one) will give to me.

So...the news is that he is approved and now fully listed!

The way I envision this is...

Imagine you're going to a concert.  You get in the line, buy a ticket, and now you're in the venue with thousands and thousands of other people.  Groups of people are in their sections, but they aren't allowed to go to different sections.  This is like the cadaver donor list.  Lots, and lots, and LOTS of people are waiting, but everyone is only matched within their particular geographical region (no moving from the nose-bleed seats to the suites).  For O recipients, since we can only receive from O donors, this can make for a long wait (an average of 6-7 years in the DFW area).  I'm at 6 years and 4 months, currently...and I'm still waiting.

Ok, so now, imagine that someone comes up to you at the concert and says, "Hey, I know how I can get us backstage passes."

Well, backstage passes come at a cost.  And that cost is my friend's kidney.  He is willing and able to pay this incredible price to get us both on the VIP backstage list, otherwise known as the Kidney Paired Donation list.  By doing this, he's giving me an opportunity for two pretty incredible things:

  1. A shorter wait.  Now the search for a match will become national, so rather than just searching my region, they'll be looking across the good old US of A for matches for both of us.  
  2. A living kidney.  Kidneys from living donors have been shown to last longer and experience fewer bouts of rejection than those of cadaver kidneys.  This has a lot to do with the ability to plan and prepare for surgery and ensure a super-close match, and living kidneys usually start working immediately after transplant, while cadaver kidneys may take a few days to "wake up" and get going.

So, yay!!!

Needless to say, Mike and I are beyond thrilled.  It's bittersweet in the sense that my good friend is also having to go through surgery for this to happen, and don't even get me started on all the "feels" of having someone make this kind of sacrifice for me.

So right now we're awaiting news.  My understanding is that they run the matching software weekly, as people are consistently coming on and going off of the list.  We will definitely keep you posted on any further developments, but this is a huge step forward, and I'm starting to get very excited!

Thank you, as always, for your love and support.

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