Request Suggestions: How did you find a living donor?

Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. It's never an easy road, to source out where you can look for a kidney. Being on a website like you posted is a good start. Reach out on your social media. Send an email to all your friends and family. Ask if your faith community would allow you to ask fellow followers. Put a magnetic sign on your vehicle/s letting other drivers know you need a kidney. Contact your local transplant center and get evaluated for transplant/place on their wait list.

Does this give you some ideas?
Ginger

Hi Ginger,
We have reached out in all of the ways you've mentioned with the exception of the magnetic sign. Thank you, your response was very helpful and appreciated. 🙂
Jenn

@thewenn, I did not qualify for a living donor for my liver and kidney transplant. I send my kindest thoughts and hopes as you and your dear husband continue on this journey together.

Here are some more ideas about finding a living kidney donor:
- Living Donor Request Suggestions: How did you find a living donor?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/living-donor-request-suggestions/
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How to get the word out for a donor: ideas, tips, resources! +
- helpershttps://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-to-get-the-word-out-detailed-ideas-tips-resources-helpers/

Ginger gave a bunch of great ideas. In addition to those: a yard sign, a dedicated Facebook account (and other social media platforms) also print up postcards with your info and contact info for your transplant center. You can hand them out &/or include them in other correspondence. I stuffed Christmas cards with them. If you are part of ANY other clubs, groups or organizations advertise there. Have you had a pre-transplant evaluation? Do you have a transplant center? Are you listed yet?

Thank you so much! Great idea abd youtube post was wonderful! All the best with your adopted kidney!
Cathy

Thank you!

I found out today that my 35-year old niece will need a kidney transplant by the end of the year. I don’t really know what caused her kidney damage or any other details. What can we do to find her a donor? We have shared the news with the immediate family. My niece was adopted, so I don’t know how that will affect her ability to find a match within the family.

@alive If you go to the Transplants Support Group, and put in "kidney donor" [without the quote marks!] in the little search box and click on the magnifying glass, it will return results filtered by discussions and comments. Click on "discussions" and then you can go through several threads that talk about kidney donors.

What is the base cause of her kidney issue, that necessitates a transplant? Is she on dialysis at this time?

Has your niece started the transplant evaluation process, yet? That can take a while, and is very comprehensive. Typically when a person's eGFR gets to 20%, they can be considered for transplant evaluation. There are live donors, and deceased donors that all help increase the base of available kidneys. If your niece's family are expressing their support to help her get a donor, and want to be evaluated, they can do that. Even if they may not be a match for her, they may be able to do a "paired exchange" where someone else will match her, and a family member matches someone else!
Ginger

Thank you very much for your advice! I don’t really know what caused her kidney damage. I know that the working kidney has 25% function left.

Hello Alive
At 25% GFR in my case I was able to get around 3.5 years by switching to a strict vegetarian diet ..
Basically diet was comprised of plant protein which does not damage the delicate kidney filters.
In my case .. I am grateful to my wife as she was the donor.
Best