Where was I......oh, yeah, once my brother had passed his new tests, I was "relegated to the bench". Not that I minded. If it was my wife, I'd want to be the donor for her; so no hard feelings there.

The whole experience had made me more aware of what the kidney transplant process was all about and what it could mean to be a possible donor. Absorbing information online about the donor and recipient and the effects on their lives following transplant, made me want to be a participant in this life-giving progression. The ability to enhance the quality of life of someone while minimally affecting your own life physically is, to me, a wonderful opportunity. And it is one in which I am very anxious, and hopefully able, to participate.

At this point I am enrolled in the Kidney Register. I've submitted my blood tests the results of which have been blessed by their health committee. Presently, I'm waiting to hear from them concerning further tests to be conducted at Cornell Medical center.

Stay tuned.......

I'm back....anyway, after seeing my sister-in-law become more fatigued and somewhat depressed over the course of a year or so, I talked to my brother about donating a kidney for her. What I did not know at that time was that he had already been tested for compatibility....and was rejected because of another, unrelated problem that prevented him from being a donor. It took some time, but I finally convinced both of them to allow me to be tested. I won't go into why they did not want me to go through the tests but suffice to say they relented.

Following a series of examines and blood work, I was informed that I matched on five of six antigens. A blood filtering process, which eliminated the unmatched one, would allow my sister-in-law to use my kidney. Good news! Everyone was delighted....a bit scared, but delighted.

As with any husband, my brother was not comfortable with me being the donor for his wife and not him. With only about 2-3 months before the transplant, I told him not to worry about it as it was something that I wanted to do. He relented.

All the while my brother was dieting and exercising like crazy to get past the reason he was originally "rejected" as a donor. About 5 weeks before the surgery, he was retested. He passed! I was very happy for him...for the both of them.

More later...............

Deciding to Donate

Well, I'm breaking new ground here in two ways. First, I've never blogged before, so this is the first "first". The second, and by far more important "first" is my decision to become a kidney donor at 60 years old.

If all goes well in the coming months, I will become what they call a non-directed donor. As the name implies, this means that I will not know the recipient; and I may never learn his/her identity. But that's okay. That's not why I made this decision. Here is why I did......

Somewhere around 2005/06, my sister-in-law developed kidney failure. The exact disease is not important, but the way it affected her life was. In a short period of time the changes to her physical being were very apparent. It was hard and I can only surmise how tough it was for her and my brother (her husband) and their two children to go thru on a daily basis.

More on this on my next blog.............