Donate Life Month: A Thank-You

You may not have saved a lot of money in your life, but if you have saved a lot of heartaches for other folks, you are a pretty rich man.  ~Seth Parker

Dear Donor,

So guess what this month is?  It's Donate Life Month.  Donate Life Month is a special time set aside for people who made the commitment to give of themselves so that someone else could survive and thrive.  These people may have given blood, kidneys, portions of their liver, or bone marrow.  They may know the person who received their donation.  Many do not.  Some are no longer here with us.

Donors, and aspiring donors, I hope you can understand the power that you possess--the power to preserve, to give life, to help, not knowing of or expecting anything to be reciprocated.  What you possess is true compassion, true selflessness, and a true heart for other people.  Your donations are unmatched to what you could possibly give, ever.  

Thank you for being such a blessing.  

***

Since I was first diagnosed with kidney disease, I have been overwhelmed with the number of people who have come forward offering to donate their kidney to me.  I would love to list all of your names but then again I run the risk of missing someone. Which would not be cool :) 

But I will say that many of you have volunteered your blood types (O+ people, what's up?!).  Some of you have offered to find out your blood type :)  Some of you are my family members.  Some, my future family members. Some of you I've known since high school.  Others, I only met last year.  One in particular volunteered to go through a complicated plasma exchange process so that he could donate (Ben lol).   One of you has already completed the donor work up, and hasn't given up hope (Jocelyn).  Another, will hopefully find out soon if he's the one (Dad).  

My doctors have told me that most people don't have as many people lined up to donate as I do.  And I am so fortunate have more people than I can count on two hands who have offered to step up. You guys ROCK. And thank you so much. 

But I would add that even if I'm not the recipient, please consider donating something, anything to someone else.  The average wait time for a kidney right now is 5 years, because there are just not enough kidneys.  Please consider being a living donor.  You have no idea what you can do for someone.  

So I just want to say thank you to all the past, present, and future donors. We sick people need you. We love you. And we thank you for caring.

For more information on living donation, visit My Transplant Life.  

For more specific information on donating a kidney, visit National Kidney Foundation.