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Kidney Donor Athletes
Athlete Archive
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Thomas!
As part of my job, I am fortunate to have a platform to communicate to our entire company. The following is an excerpt from the message I sent on Friday, July 31, 2020 as part of our weekly internal e-newsletter: I stared across the hall and into my bedroom, not...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Cristina!
My name is Cristina Fontana, and I am a non-directed/altruistic living kidney donor. Donating my kidney to a stranger has been one of the most amazing and rewarding experiences in my entire life. I was born and raised in South America- Caracas, Venezuela. I live...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Maeve!
Growing up, I had always had a passion for sports and being active at a young age. I started playing soccer when I was just 3 years old. By 10 years old, I started playing on a travel competitive soccer team. Travel soccer was such an amazing time to bond with...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Jodi!
I donated my kidney because I survived a house fire in 2012. I was in the house, and when I evacuated with my son, I watched my house burn to the ground from the driveway. After I put my life back together, I felt compelled to give something back to the universe for...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Jennifer!
I first learned of my father’s kidney disease back in 2012. He was pretty casual about it and just said they would monitor his kidneys. As the years progressed his kidney maintained the same until around 2018 when he started noticing more of a decline and the...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Kathleen!
I have often thought kidney donation would be a way I could help in my community. However, I never really thought it through, and when the realization hit that donating involved major surgery, I became aware that I happen to have a deep-seated, unexplainable,...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Whitney!
In June of 2015, at the age of 33 and with two young girls (four and two), I donated my left kidney to my childhood friend, Lauren. Our parents met when we were babies and our families have been close ever since. Lauren received her first donated kidney...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Courtney!
I know many people can say that running changed their lives, but it changed mine in ways one would never imagine! If I hadn’t taken up running back in 2013, I would never have met Tracy. And if I hadn’t met Tracy, it is not likely that I would be a living kidney donor...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Tiffany!
In the summer of 2012, my cousin Kim posted on Facebook that a friend of hers, Ace, needed a kidney transplant from someone with type O blood and she wasn’t eligible. I knew a little about kidney disease. My Grandpa Bud was on dialysis for the last couple of years of...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Emily!
I know probably better than the average person what a need there is for kidney transplants because I have been a dialysis nurse for 12 years. After I had a patient die while waiting over 4 years for a transplant, I started to think a little more about being a donor...
Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Holly!
My name is Holly Armstrong, and this is my donation story for Kidney Donor Athletes. It's funny because I wouldn’t have always considered myself an ‘athlete’. I was a chubby, sedentary middle schooler who occasionally played softball or street hockey with my older...
Meet Kili Climber Katie
Katie did not hesitate to donate because her mother was in need, and she was lucky to be a match. Katie's grandfather passed from kidney failure, further inspiring her donation as she wants to have her mother around for a very long time. She is climbing because she...
From Yahtzee to Kilimanjaro: Shawna’s Story
How do you make the most of a global pandemic? You gather a group of six amazing Kidney Donor Athletes and have a fun little virtual Yahtzee tournament as a way to connect with other people, build community, and maintain sanity. Then, when the tournament is over, you...
Jay continues to give by climbing Kilimanjaro
Jay was inspired to donate to pay back a debt of gratitude. Thirteen years ago, Jay was caught in an avalanche that broke his leg, shattering his pelvis and severing nerves and arteries. His friend Bill saved his life by stabilizing him, building a fire to...
Tracey’s inspiration: kda & kilimanjaro
I first heard about living kidney donation on the first day of seventh grade. A classmate’s uncle donated his kidney to her cousin, who both recovered nicely. I had never heard such a thing, but somehow I knew it was for me. Tracey with others in her donor chain...