Guest Post by Jason Garcia - Week 1

I'm a week into my journey of finding out if I'm a possible kidney donor candidate and so far, I'm still in the running. I figured the first thing we needed to know is if my blood type is a match to Niem’s B positive, so I called Kaiser and it turns out they don't have a record of it! Isn't this basic, important information my medical provider should have? God forbid I'm in a terrible life threatening situation where I'm in need of a blood transfusion because they're going to need to take four hours to find that out.

I went to get blood drawn and it turns out I’m O positive and a possible match! After this great news, I decide to get started with the official donor application process. Niem sends me a link to fill out a standard info and health history questionnaire which takes just twenty minutes. At the end, I check off the times I’m available to talk to a representative who’s suppose to call me.

Monday 11:00 am rolls around and I get a call from Rachel, a living donor intake coordinator with Stanford Health Care, confirming they received my information. Wow, that's the exact time I checked off on the application! These people are really on top of their stuff. She sends me a thirty minute video to watch with a husband and wife that’s going through the process of donating a kidney for his brother. I decide to ask Rachel about the chances of being a match and she tells me that most donors aren’t usually a complete match. Hmmm, I don’t know what that means but that's kind of encouraging to hear.

IgA Nephropathy is the name of the condition and the video does a great job in answering a lot of my questions. You know, like what the surgery entails, the recovery, the chances of dying and stuff like that. I hate to be so blunt, but the number one question on anyone’s mind looking to donate an organ must be what the chances of dying are, aren’t they? I’m relieved to hear that it’s as safe as standard appendix removal surgery and other possible risks are there, too, but are quite low. Phew, thank goodness!

After the video, more questions come to mind like time off of work from the 4 - 6 week recovery period after the surgery. This brings up the fact that this could be a financial burden on the welfare of my family with that much time off of work. It’s the more real side of trying to gift an organ to extend someone’s life which seems mundane, yet poses a greater risk to not making this a possibility for someone in need of a kidney. I’m happy to learn that the entire cost of everything involved is taken up by the insurance of the organ recipient. I’ve got to imagine it’s what makes this whole thing possible for donors looking to make this a reality for someone they love.

Rachel called me at the end of the week and said I passed the initial screening questionnaire! I can move on to have my blood drawn and urine sample to check in on my overall health and the health of my kidneys. I’m crossing my fingers that all those salmon dinners and arugula salads the last many years really did keep me as healthy as I'd hoped they would.