In 2008, I went to the movies with a girlfriend and saw the movie The Bucket List. In the film, Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) was terminally ill with cancer and wrote out a list of things he wanted to do before he “kicked the bucket”. A few days later I made my own list and have … Continue reading Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Alice!
My name is Hayley and I'm a 30-year-old from Wisconsin. I was a D1 swimmer at Nebraska where I held five school records for backstroke and freestyle events and relays. I graduated in 2013. Being tired of the sport I had done for the last 18 years, I opted to spend a few years bouncing … Continue reading Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Hayley!
In July of 2019, a message came to a family message board. My husband’s Aunt Roma is in desperate need of a kidney and are looking for people to take the survey to see if they qualify. I logged-in that night. I knew, like deep down knew, if I started the process, I was going to be … Continue reading Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Susie!
KDA is thrilled to share that we are going to Africa in 2022! That big mountain in Tanzania is calling and KDA is trekking up Mount Kilimanjaro all in the name of kidney advocacy. We plan to summit on World Kidney Day, March 10, 2022! We have several spots available and would love to open … Continue reading KDA Is Off to Kilimanjaro – Join Us!
What’s funny about sharing my story here is that athleticism is why I chose to donate in the first place. Let me take a step back. I was randomly scrolling on Facebook about a year ago and came across a post about a boy who was my son’s age, third grade, and was super active … Continue reading Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Nichole!
Being a healthy, active woman in my 50s, I knew after seeing my friend’s story about needing a kidney for her daughter several times that I needed to throw my name into the hat and at least see if I was a match. It was a long journey but I indeed was a directly compatible blood match … Continue reading Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Natalie!
Right Kidney For The Trail On a special day, 8 February 2020, I ran my first serious run since donating my left kidney on 16 October 2019 – just 16.5 weeks later. At 73 years old, a half marathon trail run (my first trail run) on one kidney is a significant achievement. I ran the Rotorua Ultra Half, one of the more picturesque trail runs in our country, renown for … Continue reading Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Tom!
“Serendipity: finding pleasing things one had not been looking for." As donors, we so often hear from non-donors that it must feel great to have saved someone’s life through donation. It absolutely does feel incredible, and helping another human live life was why I chose to donate. I can’t help also telling non-donors of the serendipitous … Continue reading Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Molly!
Well, it has been an interesting year but my solo kidney is doing very well (and so is my socially distant kidney). My last KDA update was in my 6 week recovery period post-donation surgery. I was doing well and excited to get back to training after 6 months off the mat thanks to my … Continue reading Another Update from Kidney Donor Athlete, Varla!
I honestly knew nothing about living kidney donation when I started this journey other than it was something that people did for their loved ones (I had no idea people donated altruistically either!). This all changed when, in February of 2018, my mom called to tell me that she was in kidney failure and … Continue reading Meet Kidney Donor Athlete, Katie!
