Want to help me? It’s all about information: for you and potential donors. One of the best places to start is the transplant area of Massachusetts General Hospital’s excellent website. There you will find a lot of education. I have several articles and links published in the submenu under this menu category. These will give you a quick, easy-to-read background on the subject so you can understand the ins and outs of kidney transplant and how it is very safe for the donor and a pretty awesome thing to do for someone if life! A couple of other sites that are helpful are: The National Kidney Foundation and The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) So, happy reading and learning! Here are some education links from the submenu:
…Just a little about me before you dive into the articles I have written regarding my journey with Polycystic Kidney Disease. I’m really a pretty ordinary guy for those who do not know me. I’m currently 56 years old and married to a man I have loved since I met him in 1980. Of course I did not know I loved him back then – or that I was gay for that matter. But that is a story for another venue. Suffice to say we have been together for a long time and I am very lucky to have him in my life. During the course of my life so far, I, like most, have seen my ups and downs. I lost my mom at an early age (I was 17 years old), and my dad died when I was …
Summer 2019 – When will it arrive?
What’s that you say? It’s over! Wow that did go fast… But as quickly as it went, we did pack a lot of kidney shirt wearing into a brief period.
Rob’s plan was to get tee shirts, among other things, to wear and stage a couple of gatherings with friends in public places in addition to the regular day to day wearing of them to raise awareness of my renal needs.
…and so we did – planning and strategizing along with good friends Dorothy and Linda one early summer evening.
After a few weeks the goods came in – and, in addition to us and many friends wearing them individually throughout the summer, pushing the kidney message, we also wore them in groups and while in other areas away from home…Here’s a brief …
My good friends Roland and Sherrill Danico live in Auburn, Maine. They generously saved an article from the Lewiston Maine Sun Journal newspaper for me. It’s titled “It Was Meant to Be” and is the story of a woman who lost her daughter but avoided total despair by donating her kidney to save the life of another young girl with a rare kidney disease. The story is truly inspiring. Please give it a read if you have chance and thank you again Roland and Sherrill!…
Recently my friend Bruce sent me a link to an incredible television piece PBS Newshour did on how kidney chains are saving lives. Please take a moment (actually 10) to view this video. It is at once touching, informative and could be a life saver. Click here to view the video.
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As I mentioned on this site earlier, one of my doctors has called me “the Golden Child” for kidney donation. Not your everyday complement, but I will definitely take that designation and wear it proudly.
Basically, what the doc was saying is that my transplant should go extremely well and really have few if any complications or roadblocks (fingers crossed). There are several reasons for this:
1) People with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) as a reason for transplant generally do well because of the nature of their illness. PKD is a genetic illness confined to the kidneys. Otherwise the person is healthy. Once a new kidney is transplanted into a person with PKD (the new kidney will not contract PKD) they are “cured” of the disease and, since there is not other associated disease in their body that the new …
So anyone who has heard a bit about organ transplant probably knows that, in order to be successful, blood type matching is pretty essential. It does lessen the number of kidney matches for each person unfortunately. However, programs like Kidney Swaps and chains have worked around that potential issue. For the purposes of this site, we are talking about me and my kidneys. So what blood type courses through my veins, you generously ask? Well, I am type “A positive” (insert your own type A personality joke here if you must). Blood type “A” can receiver kidneys from other type “A” and Type “O”. Type “O” is actually the “universal donor” which means they can donate to any type. Positive and negative designations do not matter in kidney donation. Of course, with the advent of “Kidney Paired Donation (“Kidney …
I am one lucky son of a gun!
Sure I am here seeking a kidney donor as the result of a genetic kidney disease, but how lucky to have something that can be tended to by modern medicine.
How lucky I have been too many times to recount.
My good luck hit the stratosphere, though, in love. I was fortunate enough to meet the world’s best guy and get to spend a most of my life with him thus far. Like anyone’s, our story contains happy and sad occurrences, but has ultimately been a joyous event I would not trade for the world. He is the defining element of my life.
But this is not the place for me to wax poetic about my love life. I could go on for weeks about Rob if allowed. Suffice to say I …
So when people are diagnosed with pretty much anything, the first reaction of most is probably fear. That scale of that fear is generally commensurate with the seriousness of the diagnosis.
When I was diagnosed with PolyCystic Kidney Disease (PKD) it was basically an afterthought. You see, I was 25 years old and visiting my urologist because my right testicle had grown to the size of a medium tropical fruit in a really short time. And while on one hand that was impressive to a 25 year old, it was also probably not great news biologically.
Turns out, after testing, that my urologist told me and my dad that I had testicular cancer and needed to take care of that asap. “And, by the way, you also have Polycystic Kidney disease,” he mentioned.
Those unfortunate enough to have heard a …
It may be a cliche by now, but it is true that you do learn about life from having cancer.
Trust me; still better to avoid the crap out of it ultimately, but I suppose it is a consolation that at least you can take something positive away if you do happen to meet up with it.
Testicular cancer found me young – 25 years old. Let’s face it – that’s an age where testicles rank pretty high on the body parts list. Hell, for most guys at that age they’re pretty much in charge, so any threat to one of them is a real kick in the balls, shall we say.
And, with the full acknowledgement that everyone is unique and processes life differently, I would say that one of cancer’s largest lessons is that each day is a …