There Once Was a Kidney

There once was a kidney that lived inside of my Sister's  body. Along with it's  mate, the little left kidney worked day and night, around the clock, to filter blood needed to produce urine. For 49 + plus years this amazing internal organ (s) has carried the responsibility of filling up the bladder so she could pee and filtering out toxins. Seems like such a simple thing, right?

For her....it was.
For others....not so much.

As  an RN who has worked in dialysis for many years, she saw the impact that not having fully functioning kidneys  can have on a person, a body, the family, and the spirit. She has watched in vain how the procedure lengthen the inevitable, knowing that the inevitable would eventually happen.

Rhonda has the fighting spirit of our father....so she took it to the streets. She stood up for someone who could no longer fight their own kidney battle alone any longer. She wanted to be the difference that she wanted to see. My sister went through long months and months of testing to be approved as a living kidney donor.

As part of a paired-donation, this past Friday I cried as they wheeled her to the operating room, where her left kidney was removed and transplanted into the body of someone she didn't  even know. A selfless act of humanity that gave life back to the recipient who had been on dialysis for 5 years. 

Like me, many people have a little red heart on their driver's  license, or the actual words "donor" to signify their intent to donate their organs upon death. But did you know that kidneys donated by a living donor last 5-10 years longer than the organ from a deceased person (averaged about 10-15 years)? I may live to be an old, old woman....I know some of my organs are needed long before my last breath. Yours are too.

Will I become a living donor? As much as I would love to be strong and brave like Rhonda....in truth, I'm  not.  Living donation is not for everyone....but it is for someone.

My sister is my hero. She is home now and has a beautifully working right kidney. Her donor may go home today to start her new life with an equally beautiful left kidney, that has the Blocker fighting spirit  coursing through its tissue.

Peace