My name is Mike Ramsey. I am 51 yrs old from the great state of Wisconsin, and I donated my left kidney on September 13,2023.

I had the honor of giving the gift of a better life to my wife.  She had PKD which progressed to kind failure in 2020, at that point she started dialysis. We reached out to all our family and out on Facebook for anyone interested in the donation process. To be honest with you I was not interested in the beginning, nor did I ever think I would be a match

After about 9 months and no candidates or volunteers, I thought I would at least get checked. I was still very uncertain about going through it. During the testing process I was researching life after donating a kidney. This helped ease the stress some, but what really finally helped was to speak with someone that had gone through it.

A member of the NKDO, (which to find out she lives in the same town as i do) reached out for support and mentoring. This was a great tool to help the undecided get answers to questions about the whole process.

Growing up I was never really into sports or anything athletic. I was raised to work, and to work hard. This is how you will get what you want, and I still believe this, but life’s too short to just work. I lost my mother to cancer when I was in my early 20s. She was only 44 at the time.So a short time after her passing my friend suggested joining a gym and lifting some weights to help the coping process. I found a new passion for years to come! I continued to get stronger than I ever thought possible.

Then I had a really bad back injury, which I had to get surgery to fix. I thought this was going to be traumatic  to my weight lifting days, but the will power and determination I gained from my childhood helped get me back in the gym a short 8 weeks after.

Within the next year I was back to normal. A few years later we relocated to a new town. I joined a gym there, one side had a CrossFit program. This sparked my interest and I decided to check it out. After going through the introduction classes I was hooked! I told myself this is what I have been looking for. I found a way to push my body and mind to a whole new level. I soon began to get better and understand the movements and was encouraged to compete in some contests. As time went on I kept wanting to try other fitness activities. A good friend from the gym suggested we try this fitness race called Hyrox. This was one of the hardest events I have ever done, and went back again the next year!!

I told my gym community about the thought of donating and worried that it would hinder me from doing what I love to do. The support from everyone was overwhelming. Once I got through all the testing and got the call to tell me I was a great match we had a roadblock from the medical facility. They lost a live donor surgeon and we would have to wait till they get one onboard. This process took over 18 months, my wife was getting discouraged and we were starting to find a new facility to start testing all over again. In the meantime I connected with one of our members at the gym, started to focus on my nutrition so when the day came I would be in my best health and fitness ever. About 4 weeks into my nutrition change we got the call and a date set for transplant. During this process I was able to go into surgery at my best, giving my wife the best kidney I could.

Post surgery went well, I was released in 2 days and my wife got out in 4 days. Pretty incredible I thought! When we got home I pretty much picked up where I left off caring for my wife. I was very sore but determined to recover quickly. Well, I was wrong. I was not Superman. It took more out of me than I expected, but I realized I needed to take it easy and listen to my body.

Rest,rest,rest is what it was telling me. About two weeks post op things got much better. I was walking a mile a day, and by the 3rd week I was up to 3 miles a day. By the 4 th week I got permission from my nurse to do a light jog. Finally on the 8th week got clearance to get back to Crossfit (slowly of course). During this time I found  many fitness avenues related to kidney donors. One that stood out was called Donor Games, this is a CrossFit style competition for kidney donors and recipients. This was to promote fitness after donating. I signed up right away and was excited to start rebuilding my fitness.

Well, again, this was a bit harder to do than I thought. The process took more out of me than I wanted. I had high expectations to rebound like an 18 yr old kid, but I had to accept the slower process. ( I may be hard on myself and very competitive) Just 4 short months post surgery ( to the day) I competed in my first Donor Games online event, a benchmark CrossFit workout called FRAN. This was a true test of how much fitness I got back. I took second place in the event and it confirmed that my fitness lifestyle will still be the same if not better than before.

Going forward I feel like I made a difference in more than just one life. It feels like I helped so many others that are connected in one way or another and want to help showcase the lifestyle after donating!!