Name: Gunnar
Location: Kansas
Kidney Donation date: September 2024
Liver donation date: March 2026
Age at kidney donation: 31
Age at liver donation: 33
Who did you donate your kidney to? A Marine Veteran (Community-Directed)
Who did you donate a lobe of your liver to?: An unknown recipient
Categories of exercise before donation: Parachuting, Swimming, Running, Hiking, Climbing, Canoeing, Cycling, Martial Arts
Greetings! My name is Gunnar, and I am a community-directed kidney donor and a non-directed liver donor, hailing from the Sunflower State of Kansas. I love to get involved in good causes, especially when there is a new adventure to be had. Both of my solid organ donations have been fascinating undertakings for me. I hope you will find the following helpful. All included photographs were taken post-kidney donation.
What was your activity level like before donation?
I always like to challenge myself physically. Throughout my twenties I did parachuting, survival swimming, hiking, dynamic shooting, and martial arts. When I made the decision to part with a kidney, I was willing to adjust my future activities if needed, but thanks to KDA’s awareness campaigns, I wasn’t too concerned I would actually have limits at all. Now, well over a year since my donor nephrectomy, I believe I have become even more active, intentional, and healthy overall. To me, being an athlete means you’re fit enough to do whatever you want. I have never felt limited, and having one kidney instead of two has made zero difference.
At the time of writing, I am still in recovery from the liver donation (<1 month post), so I have yet to return to my full shenanigans. I will say, this second time around has seemed a little easier on me.
Whom did you donate to?
My donor journey started out non-directed, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of giving my kidney to a military veteran. I like to think of living organ donation as national service; not only a personal gift to another individual. To choose a veteran as my intended recipient was symbolic of my appreciation for the cost of freedom. My physical kidney was flown to an unknown recipient in the Pacific Northwest. With the help of Donor Outreach for Veterans, I was able to give a kidney voucher to a vet/Marine Dad with a beautiful family. In some ways, he reminds me of my own dad.
My liver donation was non-directed and remains anonymous at time of writing. I have been informed that the graft was a success and the recipient is improving as expected (hallelujah!).
How would you describe your recovery post-donation?
I will call it an ordeal, not to scare anyone, but it’s true. The first few days were a bit rough—my wife/caregiver helped me sit up and get in and out of bed. I wasn’t in a lot of pain, but I felt fragile and immobile. I was a bit afraid to sneeze or cough, scratch my incisions in my sleep, or God forbid, trip and fall. I got released from the hospital quicker than average, and I did lots of walking with my kidney pillow pressed against my surgery site. My wife and I then went to a speakeasy nearby and I enjoyed some nonalcoholic beer, which actually wasn’t bad!
I had already committed to be a cast member of a Greek Tragedy, Philoctetes, before I had a date for my surgery. The director of the play allowed me to attend rehearsals over video calls from the hotel near the transplant hospital. I wouldn’t recommend anyone else do something like that so soon after, but it was my own risk to take, and I felt compelled to follow through on both commitments. The showings began ten days after my surgery, and I played my part, carefully, without any issues.
A few weeks after that, I got to join Kidney Donor Athletes on a Marathon Relay. I didn’t run any faster or slower than I expected to. And I didn’t feel any worse than normal while running!
The only thing I experienced that I didn’t remember anyone else mentioning, was the itchiness of the incisions. This might have been due in part to a chlorhexidine allergy. Tip: as the scab starts to peel and fall off, BE CAREFUL! The stitches might still be what is holding it on, so don’t try to get it off or you could pull on the filament.
The scars still itch from time to time, but always less and less. It’s not too bad (scratching makes it itch more). But most days I feel nothing at all and forget I even have the scars. There’s no tightness or anything. There are three incisions since it was a laparoscopic surgery. I think they look pretty cool.
The recovery from my liver donation has also been incredibly smooth, as long as I keep my cat from walking on my stomach while I’m asleep. I can honestly say I’ve been just as sore after good physical training. Because my hepatectomy was performed robotically (minimally invasive procedure), I think I have had a far easier time than the majority of liver donors, as open surgery is still commonplace. DaVinci 5 Robot for the win!
Describe your journey back to fitness after recovering.
Physically, I don’t feel any different at all with one kidney. My average blood pressure has not increased, nor has my resting heart rate. I resumed my regular platelet donation hobby around 8 weeks post surgery. I was able to still give the annual regulatory maximum of 24 blood and platelet donations without going over my red cell loss limit, including the estimated 20ccs of blood loss from the nephrectomy. That’s a proof of concept that I’m glad to have done. No ill effect.
As stated above, I am still in recovery post hepatectomy. On that, I’m drowsy, and sleeping more than ever before in my memory, but I feel alright. For the first two weeks, walking around could get painful if my heels hit the ground too hard, sending a shock up to my belly. Soft-soled shoes are a money move.
Were there unexpected hurdles along the way?
After I began the kidney donor screening process, I quickly learned that there was no need to worry about making an ill-advised decision; the transplant team made sure I thought of every possible outcome and consequence, no matter how small the chance. In fact, my biggest worry was that I may ultimately not be allowed to give this gift that I had already given in my heart.
My worry almost came true; I was denied as a donor by my first transplant team for a subjective reason that I disagreed with. I had to get re-evaluated at another center in another state to continue with the donation. It was an upsetting few weeks waiting to get that disappointment sorted out. When I finally got the green light, as a full-time student, I was somewhat frustrated that it was too late to do the surgery and recovery over summer break as I had planned.
I chose to prioritize my recipient. He had waited long enough already, and I wasn’t going to let my classes delay him being able to live a better life. My wife will affirm, I like to have my cake and eat it too, under the light of a candle being burnt at both ends. I stayed enrolled full time and I had the surgery during the semester. It wasn’t ideal, but I decided to have some faith in the systems in place, such as the student accountability center, which is there to verify and excuse legitimate absences and help the student get back on track. I wanted to be a “proof of concept” for any students who may wonder about pursuing living donation while earning their degree. I am happy to report that my university was very accommodating, and my professors allowed me to catch up on what I had missed. I ended up needing to drop one class (full refund with no mark on transcript), but I still finished a full-time semester with all A’s. I found that accomplishment pretty gratifying. I later got the whole screening and donation process officially approved as a co-curricular experience within the University Honors Program.
The evaluation for my liver donation was similar but actually not as rigorous as the kidney donor screening was, from my point of view. There was no 24-hour pulse/blood pressure reading and no 24-hour urine collection as for my kidney donor eval. However, I did give lots of blood vials and spent over an hour in an MRI.
Do you feel different now than when you did pre-surgery?
Spiritually, emotionally and psychologically, I benefit from having done this. There is a scriptural principle I believe in that says if you have an extra of something and could spare it, give it to someone who needs it more. John The Baptist said it. Simple but truly profound and direct. I strongly believe in what I did, and it worked out just as I hoped it would.
My NKR voucher recipient and I are now brothers, even though we come from very different backgrounds. We stay in touch and we plan to do a trip sometime soon.
Organ donation is something beautiful that I love, and I want to stand for it. I consider the cause of organ transplant to be one of the worthiest in modern times. Think about it—people with no medical expertise can help alleviate the suffering and save the lives of people with serious diseases, just by stepping up! I remember the helpless feeling of watching my grandparents and my dad approaching their demise, and there was nothing whatsoever that I could do to help them live. That’s not the case with kidney and liver disease. By the time the surgeon took my kidney out, it already hadn’t belonged in me for months. I had released it completely. It was like I was just safekeeping it until the big day.
Do you take precautions now that you didn’t before?
In terms of life changes, they are few and positive. I never was much of a pill-taking person in the first place, but nowadays I am even more decidedly avoidant of supplements and any NSAIDs. I’ve become a lot better at drinking the recommended amount of water, and I find it so beneficial.
I sometimes wear the medical bracelet they gave me at the transplant clinic. It says “LIVING DONOR – LEFT NEPHRECTOMY.” From what I can tell, it’s a bit on the noncritical side of information for EMS contexts, but if I’m going to wear jewelry, it might as well be somewhat functional.
Maybe an obscure thing to mention, but I also won’t eat buffalo fish (common where I’m from) because of the potential for Haff disease, which can cause acute kidney failure. Crazy, right? Apparently there’s a mysterious toxin in those fish that can cause rhabdomyolysis. The more you know!!!
What advice would you give someone considering donating?
If you have even the slightest inclination, go ahead and start the screening process. Pursue it and maintain the initiative, because if you stop, everything stops. There is no need to wait and do research, because the transplant teams are responsible for donor education. It’s better to learn current information straight from the real professionals who know what they’re talking about, instead of putting too much stock in forums or the plethora of info articles on the topic.
What were your fears before donating?
My greatest fear in the leadup to the surgery was the ever-present chance of disqualification. I really had a lot of emotional investment in the plan to do this, so being told no (again) would have been a gut-punch.
Looking back, how do you feel about those fears now?
The worry was valid, and I’m grateful that it worked out. Transplant teams must be fully confident in the donor’s whole health outcome, and if that confidence falters, it’s getting called off. Take good care of yourself, time-now, if you want to be the ideal donor candidate!
What made you decide to become a dual organ donor?
To a lot of people, donating two organs sounds like a whackadoodle thing to do. I get that, but I think once you’ve done it the first time, the thought of going a second round seems fairly straightforward. In general, my fellow kidney donors say they’d “do it again in a heartbeat.” Some of them have pioneered the way and “twice recycled,” as we say, causing me to select them as role models. This is one of those scenarios where I felt I had every reason to do so, and no reasons not to. If I am asked a hundred times why I did it, I could answer it differently and truthfully each time. Citizenship in the Nation, defense of the Principles of Liberty, helping others as my way of life, and loving my neighbor as myself, are all maxims drawn from the guiding institutions I have chosen for my identity.
Probably my best bottom-line answer is that, to me, it seems perfectly rational to do this, because I know the gravity of the outcome and the relative lightness of my task. It hurts a lot less than income taxes. The surgeon did the hard part. All I had to do was sign up, show up, put on a gown, and lie down.
Now that I’ve said all this, I will add that even if I was just a biopunk fan who wanted cool scars–that would have been a valid reason, too. I take the viewpoint that it really doesn’t matter so much why you do it; it just matters that you do it.
Tell us anything else you’d like included in your submission!
As I close, I want to emphasize one thing: organ donation doesn’t make anyone a “saint.” Theologically, I hold that we humans cannot achieve righteousness through good works. Personally, I know that being a living donor doesn’t mean I’m never a jerk sometimes! I do love people, but I’m not exactly a bleeding heart about any of this. I see it as a freely chosen mission and a pragmatistic-themed adventure. I’m not averse to some risk and discomfort for a once (or twice) in a lifetime experience, especially for a great cause. Of all the ways to help others, this is a relatively easy one. No single act, no matter the impact, can completely define someone’s character. Any impression that it’s a certain exclusive “type of person” who would give away an organ while alive, is a deleterious notion. There are liberals and conservatives, rich and poor, secular and religious, vegans and hunters—persons from any race, creed, and persuasion can and have done this for humanity. There is no pedestal for living donors to be placed on, except for peer mentorship and continued advocacy.
