After my last post, I did lots of thinking. I found out about Give A Kidney,
a charity promoting living kidney donation. Their AGM was at the end of
January, so I went along to meet some living donors and ask their
advice. It was brilliant but the advice regarding squeezing my donation
into a four-week window was largely, “You might be fine but there’s no
guarantee”. I had several email conversations with people I’d met there
afterwards. I spoke to my university tutor.
In
the end, I decided the risk was too great. I spoke to the transplant
coordinator and informed her I’d decided to wait until summer 2017,
after I’ve completed my degree. We agreed to meet again in September.
September has finally
rolled around. I slept for a week because clinical placement was
exhausting. I realised with hindsight this would NOT have been a good
time for an op. I went back to meet the transplant coordinator again.
This time, it was all good. She was happy that I’d had longer to think
about it and was still fervently keen. I was happy because waiting until
summer 2017 meant I could take part in pooled donation. Pooled donation
is quite new and is an amazing idea: some of the people on the waiting
list have a friend/family member who are willing to donate to them but
aren’t a match. I come along, give them my kidney, then their
friend/family member gives theirs to someone else on the waiting list,
then THEIR friend/family member gives theirs to someone else on the
waiting list (who doesn’t need a donor). Thereby my kidney enables THREE
people to get kidneys rather than just one — even better! However, you
can only take part if you join a matching run, i.e. do it at a specific
time of year, to fit in with the surgeons/other people/etc. Here’s a
diagram:
I
had a bunch of blood tests, was weighed and measured, had my blood
pressure taken and that was it. Two weeks later I got a call saying I
had passed the initial tests and needed to arrange my medical assessment
day and appointment with the consultant nephrologist.
These have been booked for January so there will be more news then!
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