Amy

I donated a kidney to my cousin in 2005. In 2004, he had woken up acutely blind. It turned out that hypertension secondary to renal failure had caused the blood vessels in his retinas to rupture. It was the first indication that he had that something was wrong. By the time he was diagnosed with renal failure, the underlying cause was no longer apparent. His doctors finally concluded that it had likely been a viral issue, although the specific virus could never be isolated or identified. He began dialysis. Fortunately, once his hypertension was addressed and the blood reabsorbed, his sight was restored.

My aunt reached out to family and friends to let everyone know what was happening and who to contact if anyone was interested in being a donor. There was never any pressure, but I did feel that it would be the right thing for me to get tested.

Testing went on in stages. Initially, it was bloodwork to see how close of a match I was. I matched at 4 of the 6 sites they tested for at that time (my donation was so long ago that the testing and surgery have likely advanced a lot by now!). Then there were urine screenings and contrast studies to check for appropriate kidney function. I also had to talk to a psychiatrist, who was my advocate through the whole process.

I ended up traveling down to Florida to have my surgery at the same site as my cousin’s. I was told afterwards that there was some difficulty getting me to breathe again on my own after anesthesia. I would consider that to be the biggest complication that I faced during the process or since.

Recovery was pretty uneventful. My sister came to help me for the first few weeks since I had a 2-year-old child at the time and was unable to lift anything heavy initially. I was otherwise able to get around and continue normal activity after surgery (although I am admittedly stubborn and don’t like to be dependent on people, so I may have been more active than my doctors would have preferred!).

I had my second son in 2006 and had no complications from the recent kidney donation. I have also been able to continue to be active and have completed several ultramarathons. I was only given three activity restrictions, all based on the likelihood of injury to the remaining kidney. I was advised not to ski, not to ride motorcycles, and not to ride horses. I had been a horrible skier, so that was easy to give up. I had already had my motorcycle adventure, so I am ok with that limitation as well. I have elected to keep riding horses and accept the risk that comes with it. Hypertension is also a potential complication, but I have had no issues with it thus far.

My cousin and I just celebrated the 18th anniversary of the donation on March 10th of this year. We both know how fortunate we are that it is still working well.

I have no regrets about my decision. Although a lot of the specifics of the procedure have certainly changed over the years, I would be happy to talk more to anyone who is considering donating a kidney to Tito. He has my contact information and can pass it along to you.

— Amy S.