Kidney Donation

[linuxgurugamer]

This is a short article about what I did last year:

“Go to the talk”, my wife insisted.  I wasn’t really interested, but went anyway, since she wasn’t able to go at the time.  This was back in February of 2015, about a week before my 58th birthday.  I had no idea what the talk was about.

The talk was given by Dr.  Green, and was about her experiences with her recent kidney donation.  For Dr. Green, it was almost exactly 3 months since her surgery.

I found it fascinating, and found myself thinking about it a lot over the next few days.  The next evening, I sent my first email to the organization which she went through, Renewal.org. Rabbi ********* called me back, and after talking sent me some links with more information.  Three days later I sent back the donor form to see if it would be possible for me to do this.

The hospital  (NY Presbyterian) sent me a package for blood work, which I had done and had it sent back to the hospital.

My blood type is AB, which is pretty rare, only about 4% of people have it.  So I wasn’t expecting the call which said that I actually matched two people on Renewal’s list.  So we moved forward some more.

This still wasn’t quite real to me, it was like something I was putting my toe in.  Within a few weeks I was at the hospital for the donor evaluation, which was an all-day event.  

The testing showed a couple of anomalies, so I had to go in again for some more tests.  The subsequent tests showed everything was normal, the anomalies were caused by some medications I was taking and were harmless.

Then the call:  When would I like the surgery, sooner or later.  I just wanted to do this and get it over with, so surgery was scheduled for June 16.   From what I understand, this was on the short side of what donors usually do.  I spoke to my company to be sure that this wouldn’t impact anything at work.

Tick, tick, tick.  All of a sudden it was June 12, my last day at work.

Surgery was scheduled for Tuesday.  I had to be at the hospital in NYC at 6:30 AM.  The weekend passed quickly, did some errands on Monday, did the pre-surgery prep work as well.  

Monday night had some unexpected visitors show up, including Rabbi ****** and his son-in-law Rabbi ****, who is the Rosh Kolel in *******.

I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep, but sleep came surprisingly quickly.  

I had my alarm set to go off at 4am, car service was picking me up at  4:30, along with Rabbi ***** who was coming along for support.

The ride in to the city passed, we got to the hospital at 5:45, and had to wait until  6:00 before they started processing the people waiting.  The wait wasn’t long before they called me in.  I got into the hospital gown, and was waiting and chatting with Rabbi ***** when Rabbi ****** of Renewal asked if I would be willing to meet the recipient, who was in the next bed over in the pre-op room.  So, unexpectedly, I met the recipient and his wife, who were very emotional and extremely grateful.  

About 10 minutes later they walked me (a long walk) into the operating room. 
My only real complaint was that I asked the anesthesiologist to tell me when they were going to put me to sleep, and instead, she just went ahead without telling me.

“Go to the talk”, my wife insisted.  Thank G-d for my wife.  The end result was that 3 months later, I was walking into an operating room to do the donation.
Why?  Why put myself through the pain, of the recovery, of being out of work for a month?
I think this can best be answered the same way President Kennedy asked and answered the question about going to the Moon.  If this was easy, there wouldn’t be any issue about donors.  But it isn’t easy, both in qualifying to be a donor, and in doing it.
I decided to donate my kidney because I could, not because it was easy.  It wasn’t easy.  Pain medications don’t work well on me, so I had more pain than most.  But the end result, a year later,was to see my recipient at a seuda, healthy and able to enjoy life again after nearly 40 years of suffering.  I suffered for a week, to end someone’s lifetime of suffering.
I’m not vain, and don’t boast about things.  I made arrangements with my company to be able to take the time off, and aside from most of the people in my department knowing, that was that.  At least, until the end of the week, when the CEO of my company, Saki *******, learned about it and, rather than sending a normal Friday, end of week message,  sent the following message to all company employees:

“This week I’d like to highlight one of our phenomenal Achieve employees: Jonathan *****, Manager of Technical Operations in our development team. Last week, Jonathan voluntarily donated his kidney through an organization that matches volunteers to individuals challenged with kidney failure. This amazingly selfless act made me so proud to have Jonathan on our team. Besides being a dedicated Achieve employee, Jonathon is a father and grandfather, who has inspired many of us by giving someone he never met before a new lease on life.
 
Jonathon, I am amazed by your selflessness.”

I could not have done this without the support of my wife, my rabbi, my company, and Renewal.

As an ending to this, the benefit to myself went far beyond the initial donation.  During a checkup about 6 months afterwards, the doctor found an extremely early tumor in my thyroid;  it was essentially undetectable, and would not have been found except for the donation.  So in the end, my donating a kidney saved not only the recipient’s life, but my own as well.

   
 

Edited November 8, 2016 by linuxgurugamer

[Randox]

That's a pretty amazing thing to do. Seriously.

I was born with a birth defect that means there is a very real chance that if I live a long life, I could live long enough to see my own renal system retire early. Donating a Kidney is giving someone else a new lease on life, and too many people are in need. I feel the same way about donating blood, having benefited from a transfusion myself (unrelated, probably saved my life).

My hat goes off to you 

Edited November 8, 2016 by Randox

[HoloYolo]

Such a selfless man. Eternal respect to you.

I would never have the will to give someone a part of myself unless I was dead myself. The fact that you did it alive is truly amazing. 

[tater]

Wow.

It's not something I would ever do, but wow. This, in a world where snowflakes think all kinds of people are "heroes" is actual heroism. Because there was real risk to life and limb in the procedure, and there is future risk because he's now operating "without a net" (no spare kidney). Amazing.

It's sad that the transplant system is so dysfunctional. Really, everyone should be default an organ donor in case of an accident, etc, and family wishes should not play a roll after the the fact at all---and if you opt-out of the system (say on the driver's license) you should be automatically at the bottom of the list should you ever need an organ.

PS--stay hydrated, you don't want stones.

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by tater

[Dman979]

@linuxgurugamer-

That's an amazing mitzvah. My rabbi had kidney disease, and he's still on the transplant list.

I suggest changing some of the names, though.

[MaxxQ]

Good for you @linuxgurugamer.  I unfortunately, am unable to donate anything, including blood*.  When I was in the Air Force, I was stationed in England from December, 1984 to December 1987.  Because of that, I'm a carrier for Mad Cow disease (or, as I like to call it, Angry Bovine).  This prevents me from doing anything like that.  I keep checking with Bloodmobiles every year or so, and they still say no.  My daughter is the same, as she was born over there.

*O-Pos - second best blood to give, and not a drop can be taken for anyone else to use.

[LordFerret]

My brush with kidney disease was being diagnosed as stage three, facing dialysis and possible transplant. Turned out I was misdiagnosed, and have less than 10% loss in function, which is perfectly normal for someone my age. The torment I faced for six months before finding out this truth is another story; This was all thanks to the ineptitude and incompetence of the VA.

@linuxgurugamer, that's an incredible gift you've given. You are an amazing example of kindness and generosity, and I think you are to be looked to and emulated.

[linuxgurugamer]

1 hour ago, LordFerret said:

My brush with kidney disease was being diagnosed as stage three, facing dialysis and possible transplant. Turned out I was misdiagnosed, and have less than 10% loss in function, which is perfectly normal for someone my age. The torment I faced for six months before finding out this truth is another story; This was all thanks to the ineptitude and incompetence of the VA.

@linuxgurugamer, that's an incredible gift you've given. You are an amazing example of kindness and generosity, and I think you are to be looked to and emulated.

Since you mention the VA, I assume you are exmilitary.  so, thank you for your service.