Please take a moment to read the following from one of our members, Richard WD6FIE. After exhausting his search with close friends and relatives looking for a live kidney donor, he is reaching out to our wider ham community.
Hi there! This is a hard message for me to write, but I want to share some personal information with you. I want this post to reach as many people as possible. Thank you for taking some time to read it.
I am 76 years old and live in Palm Desert, CA and I have been a member of PAPA almost from the start somewhere like 40 years now. My amateur callsign is WD6FIE. Some of you may already know that I have kidney disease, probably inherited it from my family. Unfortunately, my kidneys are no longer working at their best and the best treatment option is to have a kidney transplant. As you can imagine, it was difficult to find out that I needed a transplant. This shook me to my very core, but I am committed to get through this.
My medical team has been educating me on transplantation, especially living kidney donation, a transplant option that offers me the best chance of survival. It allows me to be transplanted sooner and to no longer need dialysis which is only 30% effective. Living donation is strongly encouraged because the wait time for a deceased donor transplant can be eight to ten years or more with over 108,000 people on the waiting list! I am also learning that kidneys from living donors can last much longer and function better than a kidney from a deceased donor.
I know it’s a lot to ask, but I hope you would consider becoming a living donor after reading my post. If you are interested in learning more about becoming a living donor and are in good health, please contact me (via PM) and I’ll be glad to answer any of your questions. I am registered in three hospitals, San Diego, Los Angeles and soon to be Phoenix, Az.
As far as any costs involved for the surgery, they will be paid by my insurance. A separate Living Donor Medical team will navigate you through your evaluation, help you become informed about living donation and understand what your life will be like after your kidney donation. Lab work and diagnostic tests will be performed and you will be seen by Living Donor Specialists. This evaluation will help determine if you are in good health and if it is safe for you to be a living donor. If you decide not to continue with your evaluation, your decision to stop will always be supported by the Living Donor Medical team and by me.
Some think that a donor must be compatible with the person who is receiving their kidney. I heard this as well, but surprisingly, when a living donor and recipient are not compatible due to age, size, blood type or antibodies, a Kidney Paired Exchange Program may help incompatible pairs find compatible living donor options,
Thanks for reading my story. I look forward to hearing from you. You can contact me by email at [email protected] or by phone at (408) 218-6357.
Regards,
Richard — WD6FIE
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