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Update 4/15/11 I am happy to report that a kidney donor came forward for me and I am scheduled for a transplant early this summer. I want to thank all the people who were tested, those who supported me, the friends, family, doctors, transplant coordinators, MacMedics employees, 4H folks, and people I don’t even know who sent well wishes and good vibes my way and helped spread the word about the need for a donor (A special shout out to Mario Armstrong who did all he could to help get the word out). Most importantly, I’d like to thank my donor, who found me on the Internets and wanted to help. I’m very grateful to her and her willingness to donate one of her kidneys so that I can get my life back.

I plan to leave this page up, as it still attracts a good deal of traffic from my Vegan and Macintosh related posts. Perhaps, it will help someone else get the lifesaving donation that they have been waiting for. After I have my surgery, I’ll try to find a way to make this domain and it’s SEO score work for others who are waiting.

I know for a fact that you can step forward as an altruistic kidney and contact Johns Hopkins (you can call my donor coordinator listed below) and they will test you for free and if you pass the tests, they will match you to someone who needs a new lease on life. My donor and many others have come to donate via Johns Hopkins, as they are known world-wide for their amazing kidney program.

There are over 80,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant, so if this is something you’ve thought about, don’t delay.

Hi,

If you’ve found this page on my Blog, it might be because you’ve been invited to join the “A Kidney For Dana” Facebook page. I have been spreading the word about my kidney search via Facebook, Twitter, and my Blog since September ’09. At the suggestion of a friend I went ahead and created a Facebook “Group” to support my search.

Even if you’re NOT thinking about being a donor, please consider joining my groupanyways and posting something on your Facebook page about it. Someone you know might want to be a donor. Lots of organ donations occur because a friend of a friend passed on the word. There might be someone in your “network” that would like to be tested. If they turn out to be a match for me, imagine how good that would feel if you were able to make that connection?

For all the people (friends, family, AND people I don’t even know) who have posted something on their Facebook Wall about my situation – THANKS!

To all of my friends, family, employees, MacMedics clients, and colleagues, thank you so much for your support so far.

There are thousands of people waiting for a life saving kidney transplant, so if you’re willing to become a fan of “Can this poodle wearing a tinfoil hat get more fans than Glenn Beck?” (261,337 Fans) or the fan page for “Can the Baltimore Ravens get 1000000 fans before the Pittsburgh Steelers” (39,384 Fans), maybe you’d be willing to help spread the word about a life saving kidney donation by joining my page here.

BTW: The Facebook group for the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland only has 177 Fans, so if you’re supporting me or someone else with kidney issues here in the great state of Maryland, then please consider becoming a “Fan” of their page as well.

Since my kidney doctors have now charted my kidney decline based on the data from the last 2 years of blood tests, they are encouraging me to ramp up my donor search. Based on that recent “push” from them, I’m trying to let everyone in my network know. Maybe you would consider being tested? If so, that’s way more than I could ever ask. But really my goal here is just to get the message to as many people as possible to even up my odds as much as I can.

Update 12/24/10 My creatinine levels (what they use to judge kidney function) have pretty much doubled since last year. Also my phosphorus levels are also now out of whack as well. I’m now taking 800 MG phosphorus binder with every meal in order to push the phosphorus out of my system since my kidneys can’t fully regulate it any longer.

I’m extremely lucky to have the luxury of trying to find a “perfect match” since I’m not so sick, that they will just cram in any old kidney in order to save my life. They want me get a transplant now, while I’m healthy and try to avoid having to take a “deceased donor” kidney. I’ve been feeling pretty good, but I do get a little tired from time to time, but better take care of this issue before I have to go on dialysis. 

For those of you who know me well, you know asking for help is not easy for me. but, this is a case where I could really use some. By becoming a member of my Facebook group, you won’t get a knock on your door for a kidney in the middle of the night, but you can help spread the word about my story. The more folks that hear about it, the better my chances of someone taking action on it.

All of the recent kidney transplant “chains” have been started by one altruistic donor who read about a person in need of a kidney transplant in a newsletter or a church bulletin or something. One altruistic donor can save as many as 16 lives at once! Short of putting an ad in the paper (I’ve thought about it!), the more people who hear about my issue the better. A new variation in kidney paired donation (KPD) — pioneered and developed at Johns Hopkins — could theoretically generate an endless number of transplants.

There’s more info on this topic on my main page (which can be found here), but I often get asked what blood type are you? I’m extremely lucky to be able to accept a kidney from any blood type as I’m a “universal recipient” and I have the blood type AB-. So if you’ve been wondering if YOU can donate a kidney to me based on blood type, the answer is yes. Also, the testing is quick and FREE, but the paperwork and screening takes awhile. If you’ve thought about getting tested for me or someone else, please don’t put it off. The more time and data Johns hopkins has to work with, the better. It’s quick, and it’s free. Johns Hopkins will pay for all testing.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Dana 

You can join my Facebook group here.

You can read my whole story and get more information at http://www.AKidneyForDana.org