Chris Luck
Donating a Kidney: One's Enough
Fundraising for Give a Kidney CIO
Story
On Friday 19th March I will be donating a kidney to my friend Steph. Steph has polycystic kidney disease and needs a kidney transplant to live.
People seem regularly surprised when I say I'm donating a kidney to a friend as though it's an amazing thing to be doing. For me it's one of the most rational things I'll do in my life. I know that I'd take a kidney donation if I needed one and thanks to the thorough tests from the NHS I know that I'm incredibly unlikely to suffer any kidney problems. By donating I will be uncomfortable for a few weeks but I will have helped someone in need.
We've learned a lot about kidney donation on this journey and want to share our story and raise some money for this fantastic cause.
Did you know...
- There are currently 5,000 people in the UK waiting for a life-changing kidney transplant and hundreds die per year due to lack of donations
- Millions of us have two health kidneys and only need one
- Kidneys from living donors are more likely to work and last longer than those from deceased donors
- The NHS will never remove a kidney from someone unless doctors are satisfied that the risks to them, in the short and long-term, are acceptably low (trust me, there are a lot of tests!).
- The long-term risks are also low, the overall risk of developing significant kidney disease in your remaining kidney are around 0.5% (this is lower than the general population as kidney donors are pre-screened to ensure they are healthy) and there’re annual tests afterwards to check on the donor’s health.
- It’s good for the economy: having a patient on dialysis costs >£300,000 over 10 years whereas the cost of a kidney transplant over the same period costs around £100,000 (including the cost of the operation, follow-up appointments, medication, etc.).
- A donated kidney has a shelf-life and it's likely that Steph and other recipients will need more than one in their lifetime.
If the last year has taught us anything, it's the importance of coming together and helping others. Steph has a three year old daughter and this is something easy I can do to ensure that her three year old can grow up with a mother.
We understand that some people are ineligible to donate a kidney and you may not feel it's for you. Instead we ask that you might donate a few pounds to help raise awareness of this important cause.
Any money raised will go to Give a Kidney: One's Enough, a UK based charity that promotes altruistic or non-directed kidney donation.
p.s. we've decided to call the kidney Barry.