It’s Friday. I have started my 3 day weekend by waking up at 4am. Why? To drive 3 hours to New Jersey for medical tests and consults.

I’m doing this because someone I love is sick and needs a kidney. My hope is by sharing this experience, I might encourage others to consider organ donation (or heck: I’d be happy with increasing the number of blood and platelet donors!)

The response I often get when I tell people I’m undergoing testing to donate a kidney is “Wow! That’s really generous of you.”

I think it’s a normal response. Most people have not considered organ donation (unless faced with a loved one who needs a transplant). I had never considered it because it’s not talked about much as a “thing you can do.” I’m hoping to help change that.

I’m here to tell you that you can donate and you can donate more than you think. Living donation opportunities include:

⁃ A kidney

⁃ A lobe from your lung.

⁃ A portion of your liver

⁃ Eggs/Sperm

On the ‘less invasive/serious’ side of things, you can donate tissues:

⁃ Skin (this is often to yourself)

⁃ Bone marrow

⁃ Platelets

⁃ Whole blood

How did I get started donating?

In college, my sorority hosted a blood drive. That was the first time I donated blood. I began donating more frequently once I got an office job. After a while the staff asked me if I was interested in donating platelets and they explained what that entailed (it involves taking your blood out of your body, separating the parts of it in a centrifuge, and putting the unneeded parts back in). I’ve been donating platelets and whole blood for a decade.

Admittedly, a kidney is a pretty big jump from platelet donation and comes with a much different set of risks. It’s not a decision to be made lightly (but for me is a no brainer).

The next parts of this blog will involve more detail about my experience through this process. For this first one my goal is two fold:

1. Make more people aware that living kidney donation exists as an incredible thing you can do for someone

2. Pique someone’s curiosity or inspire someone enough to consider donation of some kind.

Whole blood is a great “starting point” for anyone who wants to do some good and make a potentially life saving impact on another’s life.

Things to Know:

⁃ Takes about one hour

⁃ No cost

⁃ They give you snacks afterwards!!

⁃ Frequently donors receive “thank you’s” (t-shirts, small gift cards, etc)

⁃ You can donate every 56 days

⁃ Donation may lower blood pressure, the risk of heart disease, and decrease risk of cancer (mixed studies on this)

⁃ Donation burns calories

⁃ You can help up to 3 people with a single donation of whole blood

There is a screening that takes place prior to donation. Some people have experiences or conditions that prevent them from donating. The criteria for this is reviewed and updated with new standards as the medical community learns more and technologies improve.

If you are ineligible to donate blood you still may be a great candidate to donate an organ or partial organ.

If you can’t donate yourself, most donation centers rely heavily on the support of volunteers.

If you’ve never donated before, I ask that you consider doing so.

If you haven’t donated in a while, I ask that you schedule yourself an appointment (or go walk in).

If you’ve been donating regularly (thank you!) and I challenge you to consider donating platelets or bringing a buddy.

To quote Mr. Rogers, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

Let’s all try to be better helpers.