Like Father, Like Canine Son

 

Miss my old man-baby George!

Most people who know me know the story of George. He was a beagle, a shelter rescue that Rob and I adopted when he was 10 and in a bit of rough shape.

With a little TLC, George experienced quite a revival, you might say. He put on weight and became strong once again, enjoying a couple of lengthy walks a day. Our mailman eventually told us how good George looked and that he wasn’t sure George would last the week when we first brought him home. Some of the neighbors even took to calling him “Second Chance George.”

Unfortunately, after approximately four years as our old man-baby, George developed a brain tumor which eventually took him. When I was at the vet with George during his diagnosis phase, the doctor was giving us …

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The Kidney Swap – A Solution for Non-Compatible Donors

One of the coolest things in life must be when that person steps forward and is interested in giving you a kidney – interested in improving and ultimately saving your very life.

And one of the largest disappointments must be when you find out this person’s kidney is not a match for you. I’m not sure I can imagine the let down.

 

But the idea of the Kidney Paired Donation ProgramĀ  – or Kidney Swap – has become a time and even life saver for folks who have a willing donor who does not match them. As the name suggests, you simply can register you and your donor with UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing). A transaction is created in which your donor’s non-matched kidney is transplanted into someone who they do match but also has an incompatible …

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The Big Ask – About Living Donation

So what is living donation? Basically kidneys that get donated to folks like me come from one of two places; a person who has just passed away with a healthy kidney or a still-living person who has very generously decided to part with one of their own kidneys to help someone else out.

Some wonder, if you can get a deceased donor kidney, why be in search of one from a living donor? – good question…

According to the National Kidney Foundation, kidney transplants performed from living donors may have several advantages compared to transplants performed from deceased donors:

  1. Some living donor transplants are done between family members who are genetically similar. A better genetic match lessens the risk of rejection.
  2. A kidney from a living donor usually functions immediately, because the kidney is out of the body for

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