Donor Diaries

Send us Fan Mail Do you ever stop to think about the effectiveness of the time and attention you put towards making a difference?   We all have the power to make the world a better place, but what could be possible if we all put more thought into maximizing our personal and financial resources? Welcome to the world of Effective Altruism (EA) with non-directed kidney donor Dylan Matthews, a senior...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever wondered why some people have a powerful drive to donate a kidney or liver to a stranger, while others would never consider such a thing? Professor Abigail Marsh has spent over a decade answering this question through studies on topics such as altruism, empathy, and the depths of human nature.  She answers complex questions such as:  How do we understand what others...

Send us Fan Mail In 2018 Martha donated a kidney to a woman she read about in the newspaper. She co-authored a book, Kidney to Share , published by Cornell University Press, about that experience and has given presentations at more than 35 transplant clinics, medical schools, and bioethics centers on her experience as a living kidney donor.  In today’s episode, we discuss donor disincentives- the...

Send us Fan Mail According to United Network of Organ Sharing, only 133 living donors in the entire U.S. have donated both a kidney and a portion of their liver to two different recipients.  A few years back, this was very uncommon, but more recently, we have been seeing it in the news more and more.  Many transplant centers won’t even entertain the idea of letting someone donate twice, however ot...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Season 2 of Donor Diaries! To kick of season 2, we are going to jump into some basics about kidney donation- some helpful Q&A for anyone out there who may identify as donor-curious.  You’ll also get a peak onto Season 2, and hear about some of our upcoming guests! Kelly Schmitt, Patty Graham and Emily Wise are not only living kidney donors themselves, but they work...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Donor Diaries’ Season 1 closer!   In Season 1 of Donor Diaries, we covered a range of topics.  We covered how to ask somebody for a kidney, the pains and history of dialysis, how to manifest a kidney, kidney chains, living donor protections, the racial disparity that exists in our current transplant system, the economic value of a kidney, kidney donor athletes who climb...

Send us Fan Mail Meet donor extraordinaire Jeramy Davies.  He’s not only a bone marrow expert, but he is a two-time donor, having donated both bone marrow and a kidney to the same person.  This in itself is unique to have donated twice, but so is his story.  Jeramy and his recipient Kelly have not only crushed her Hodgkin's Lymphoma together, but they have created a lifetime bond through the...

Send us Fan Mail Meet Bobby McLaughlin, Tracey Hulick, Steve Wilson and Patty Graham from the Kidney Donor Athletes (KDA) who are in Tanzania right now getting ready to climb Mt Kilimanjaro with 18 other living kidney donors.  The coolest part?  They summit on March 10 which is World Kidney Day! KDA is a community of kidney donors who have a commitment to moving their bodies for overall health and...

Send us Fan Mail It’s illegal to buy or sell a kidney in all countries, except Iran.  But imagine if there was a waitlist of people waiting to donate a kidney, versus a waitlist of people waiting to receive a lifesaving transplant.  Could this be possible if the government financially compensated kidney donors?  What if we not only removed the disincentives to donate, but added an incentive?  What...

Send us Fan Mail A transplant isn’t an event that happens exclusively to the organ recipient.  It also has a major impact on the family of a recipient or organ donor and often results in complex situations and relationship dynamics.   Carol Offen and Betsy Crais are co-authors of "The Insider's Guide to Living Kidney Donation: Everything You Need to Know If You Give (or Get) the Greatest...

Send us Fan Mail Race Matters with Dr. Dinee Simpson Plainly stated, white people are four times more likely to receive a kidney transplant than an African-American people.  And, Asian-Americans and Native Americans, have more than double the likelihood of receiving a kidney transplant than African-Americans.  This is the case despite African-Americans having higher rates of diabetes and high bloo...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 6 features Laurie Lee’s family transplant story.  Meet Laurie’s dad, Dan Dickinson, who is not only a liver transplant recipient, but Laurie’s partner in a decade’s worth of transplant initiatives.  This dynamic duo will interview each other to bring you a touching transplant story that started over 20 years ago when Dan passed out on a plane!  Find out how a liver transpl...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 5 comes to you from a giant porch swing on Martha’s Vineyard, where host Laurie Lee is spending the weekend with over a dozen living kidney donors and living kidney donor advocates from the National Kidney Donation Organization.   Meet Cody Maynard, Steve Wilson, and Terri Thede, all non-directed kidney donors from different parts of the country for a casual conversation u...

Send us Fan Mail Join Laurie Lee and Ned Brooks as they discuss kidney chains, lightning strikes, Freakonomics, and kidney vouchers! Ned Brooks is a retired businessman who donated his kidney as a non-directed donor in 2015, at the age of 65, for the purpose of starting a kidney chain of three transplants. His kidney went to a young mother in Colorado. Ned was so taken by the experience that he st...

Send us Fan Mail In most cases, when someone steps forward as a living donor, nobody actually asks them to donate a kidney.  Usually, the donor hears the story of someone needing a kidney and makes the decision to donate without being asked.   The Living Kidney Donors Network (LKDN) is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization established in 2007 by Harvey Mysel whose primary mission is to educate people...

Send us Fan Mail Who shall live? Meet senior transplant coordinator Doug Penrod.  Each of our podcasts feature either a living donor, or a transplant expert.  Doug is both an expert and a living donor which makes him the first Donor Diaries Double Dipper!  Join Doug and Laurie as they discuss the controversial aspects of dialysis in America and what is being done to ensure that dialysis patients u...

Send us Fan Mail How do you ask somebody for a kidney? Meet Johnna, a Chicago area woman with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD).  Johnna is in stage 5 kidney failure and needs a kidney transplant.  She can wait 5-7 years for a deceased donor kidney to become available, or she can find a friend or family member to become a living kidney donor on her behalf, and get a new kidney right now.  Find out w...

Send us Fan Mail Donor Diaries is a podcast about the beauty and messiness of living organ donation.  Get ready for some amazing stories about what happens when people decide to share their organs with other people, when people chose to share life.  The sharing of kidneys and other organs is an incredibly fascinating topic that teaches a lot about kindness, love, and life! There are over 100,000 p...