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Kidney Donor Athletes
Athlete Archive
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, James!
I’m James Carder from Cumming, GA and I became a living kidney donor on 9/29/23 at 62 years of age. I donated my left kidney via direct donation to my college friend and fraternity brother Dan. Dan and I have known each other since 1980 and were both members of Sigma...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Brian!
I made an altruistic donation of one of my kidneys on the 10th July 2019. In fact, I got the idea to do it from my wife. She was keen to do it but failed one her preliminary tests. She’s subsequently retaken and passed the test but spends a lot of time now caring for...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Nicholas!
Charlie needed a kidney, so I gave her one of mine. There is much more to our kidney journey, but that was my singular mindset in becoming a living kidney donor for my daughter. In 2015, Charlie was 5-years-old when she was diagnosed with focal segmental...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Karen!
On May 5, 2019, my only child died in a tragic accident at home. At 14 years old, he wasecstatic that he had grown slightly taller than his dad and was close to finishing eighth grade.After all, he had plans. Just a week prior, he had asked if we could go to the lake...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Zachary!
My name is Zachary Sutton, and I am a living kidney donor, transplant nephrology physician assistant, transplant advocate, husband, Dad, and athlete. I donated a kidney as a physician assistant student to the transplant list in 2008, making me the first altruistic...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Fiona!
Hello from the Green Mountain State! My name is Fiona Connors. I am an athlete (hiker, gravel rider and yogi), a French teacher, a proud resident of Burlington, VT and as of July 26th 2022, a living kidney donor. At thirty years old, I donated my left kidney to...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Dejan
My name is Dejan Kralj, 46 years old, an Olympian and multiple medalist from the world and European championships in kayak slalom. My best friend Jernej Čopič (friend since 10 years old) received a kidney from his mother in 2008 and unfortunately the time came when he...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Ashley
My name is Ashley Zirkle and I donated my right kidney in May 2021. I’d considered donating after coming across an article on my news feed about a woman in need of a kidney transplant due to stage 4 Chronic Kidney Disease. She still had life goals, such as starting a...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Doug!
I donated my left kidney in January 2002 to a high school friend, Cheryl; I was 30 years old at the time.Cheryl and I grew up in Massachusetts but had both found our way to central Iowa, where we reconnected and met one another’s spouses. When Cheryl got sick,...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Maggie!
My name is Maggie and I am a 45-year-old wife, mother of two, instructor, runner, yogi, and a live organ donor. Maggie on a cold, wet run before donating! I met my friend Phil in 1998, the summer before my senior year of college. At the time, I was his best friend’s...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Ashley!
My name is Ashley Ludlow and I donated my left kidney as a non-directed donor starting a paired kidney exchange on December 18, 2013. I had been considering becoming a donor after interning at local dialysis centers as a soon-to-be Registered Dietitian. I saw...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Susan!
During times of deep transformation, something happens to you, and then you realize that your life will never be the same. I believe people enter our lives with the potential to change our hearts and help us become better versions of ourselves. When I become more open...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Victoria!
My name is Victoria Threadgould and in February 2022, my left kidney went from Austin, TX to New York City, where it was transplanted into someone I didn’t know! My kidney journey started in January 2021 while I was hiking with my husband in a Texas State Park. I said...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Mannie!
My name is Mannie Zubia and I am a kidney donor. On February 29th, 2016 I donated my kidney to my mother. That decision came from the state I was seeing my mother in. Both of her kidneys were failing and then came the emergency dialysis. However, her body wasn’t...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Helen!
I had never known anyone who had donated an organ and probably had never considered doing this until a friend let it be known that he needed a kidney and was about to start dialysis. I thought, "I can do that!". We had moved out of state many years ago but had kept up...