We would first like to thank you and be sure everyone knows we do not expect anyone to donate their organs. We are sharing our story so everyone can understand what we are going through in our life.
For those that are interested, there are many websites and organizations that can probably answers questions better than we can but I'll touch on a few facts.
http://www1.wfubmc.edu/nephrology/procedures/Kidney+Transplant.htm
-Kidney donors are typically between 17-60 years of age. Donors should be in good general health. Typically, someone who has high blood pressure (both treated and untreated), cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, liver disease, sickle cell disease, HIV or hepatitis will not qualify to be a donor. However, these diseases are not all absolute contraindications to donation. Every donor will be considered on an individual basis.
-The recipent's insurance or the medical center pays for the medical cost associated with the donation of the donor.
-Donors AUTOMATICALLY go to the top of the transplant list should they themselves ever need a kidney.
-The average person only needs 25% of 1 kidney to live their whole life.
-Donors are matched up based on blood type, antigen match, and cross match. If a willing donor does not completely match the recipient they intended a 'swap match' may occur. This means if person A wanted to dontate to person B, but did not match and person C wanted to donate to person D but they didnt match and A matched D and C matched D they would preform a dual transplant at the same time and both recipients would benifit. My example may be a little confusing but the counslers and such can make it clear.
The best thing for anyone wanting to be a donor is to contact a donor cooridinator. I am currently working with the Transplant team at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem. I will also try to get on the Carolina's Medical Center transplant list once we have everything in place at Baptist. Being on more than 1 tranplant list can speed the time for recieiving a transplant with out a living donor.
A donor cooridinator works independent of the recipient team. They really work hard to be sure the donor is making the right decision and does not feel pressured.
Some interesting sites
http://www1.wfubmc.edu/gs/Kidney-Transplant.htm
http://www1.wfubmc.edu/gs/residency/training/clrotations/Transplant.htm
http://www.carolinashealthcare.org/services/transplant/
I will post contact information for the donor team at Baptist.
thanks again for all of your support.
No comments:
Post a Comment