Month: November 2022

Thanksgiving Dinners and Donors

Every Thanksgiving at my house, we go around the table after dinner and talk about what we’re each thankful for–a fairly typical American tradition that for us started when my adult kids were little kids.The usual topics come up, of course: being together, good health, good news, good food. Naturally, one not-so-typical topic also has come up every year for nearly two decades: kidneys. So I decided to devote this Thanksgiving blog post to kidneys and living donation.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Pexels.com

I’ll start. I am thankful for

  • my right kidney (aka Righty). My son, Paul, is thankful for my left (both are doing well, thanks). Righty has managed to give me what would be a solidly normal kidney function for someone my age with two kidneys–and she’s done it all alone!
  • the transplant team at the University of North Carolina Kidney Center that supported both of us skillfully and caringly throughout the donation and transplant process 16 and a half years ago.

So much has happened in the field of living donation since then, and prospective donors can now take advantage of options that didn’t practically exist in the early 2000s. So, even though my family didn’t benefit, I’m thankful that the recent donors I know and the would-be donors who have written to me in recent years can. Here are just a few of those options:

  • Paired donation—not around when I donated—enables someone who isn’t a match for their intended recipient to donate a kidney to someone else to enable their recipient to get another, better-matched one, when he or she needs it. Often they donate to someone they don’t know–a “nondirected donation.”
  • Expanded financial assistance for living donors–including nondirected ones–to cover lost wages and donation-related expenses like travel, childcare, and eldercare. In addition to organizations such as the National Kidney Registry and the Alliance for Paired Kidney Donation (see Resources), a big federal program that for many years covered only travel expenses–the National Living Donor Assistance Center (NLDAC)–has substantially expanded its financial assistance in the past couple of years. Thankfully, we managed without all that back then, but our situation was a best-case scenario in many ways.
  • State-level living donor protections in 28 states, offering benefits that range from basic job protections to paid leave for state employees to tax credits. The list is growing while the federal version gets tantalizingly close to passage.

Now it’s your turn. If kidneys and/or living donation is a big topic in your house too, you might want to reflect on these worthy items for thanks giving after you finish your pie. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

For related posts, resources, and information on The Insider’s Guide to Living Kidney Donation, be sure to explore the rest of my website.

Contributor Spotlight: Emotional Challenges of Caregiving

Some people support living donors and transplant recipients not only on a practical basis but emotionally. Two of The Insider’s Guide to Living Kidney Donation‘s contributors are authorities on the subject. One is a licensed professional counselor, Kathleen Fitzgerald, whose clients often include families contending with the emotional fallout of kidney failure, transplant, or any serious chronic illness. The other, Sharon Williams, also has a professional perspective. She is a researcher who specializes in family caregivers for someone with a severe chronic illness.

Contributor Sharon Williams blows out the candles at a recent birthday celebration with family and friends.

Sharon also knows the subject firsthand, because for nearly 20 years she was a caregiver for her spouse while he was dealing with chronic kidney disease, liver disease, and later a transplant. In her chapter of the book, she explains that she eventually realized that her research hadn’t prepared her for the difficult emotional challenges of this kind of caregiving. She shares the valuable lessons she learned along the way. Spoiler alert: it’s wise to let the patient take the lead in planning how to proceed and be ready to support those very personal decisions.

Sharon has since transitioned to phased retirement, working roughly half-time until she retires from her current university position in two years. Today she enjoys spending time with family and friends, including her church family, “a blessing I treasure more and more each day.” Sharon also enjoy walks with her dog and dancing, especially line dancing.

Contributor Kathleen Fitzgerald counsels families facing emotional challenges of a health crisis.

Kathleen’s chapter describes the various ways that families contend with highly charged emotional situations related to health crises. She explains the diverse approaches people try–often unsuccessfully–and then offers helpful case studies of different scenarios, describing why some approaches were beneficial. These different perspectives will resonate with many readers–regardless of whether or not their family member is considering donation or transplant.

It all comes down to the undeniable truth that donation and transplant are far more than medical decisions and experiences. They touch families and friends in profound, multifaceted ways. The ripple effect extends far beyond the individual and even the family unit.

Be sure to read Sharon’s and Kathleen’s complete chapters. If you haven’t already ordered your copy of The Insider’s Guide, you can do so here.

For related posts, resources, and more information on The Insider’s Guide to Living Kidney Donation, be sure to explore the rest of my website.