Introduction

Hello! My name is Ryan, and I've decided to donate one of my kidneys. Since this is a pretty big thing to go through, I've decided to document my journey to inform people about what it's like to go through the process of being a kidney donor, and maybe even inspire a few people to do it themselves.

First, I want to tell you how I started the process of becoming a living organ donor. I'm adopted, and from what I can tell I've had a better life than I otherwise would have because of my adoption. So, among the many neuroses and insecurities that being an adoptee has bestowed upon me, it also left me with a sense of wanting to give back to the world a bit. The idea of being a living organ donor came into my head one day, and I remember thinking, "Well, I only really need one kidney, so why not give the one I don't need to someone else?" After that, I didn't really give it much thought for a few years.

A few months ago, my wife mentioned something she saw on Facebook: a friend of a friend of hers has a daughter that needs a kidney, and that girl is also adopted, like me. That stirred something in me, and I decided to do more research into being a living organ donor. I talked to a friend that had done it, I talked to my doctor, I did a bunch of research online, and I even talked to my therapist about it. After doing the research, I decided it was something that I wanted to do, and I called the hospital the girl's family was going through to find a kidney.

That was a few months ago. I'm still going through the process of being approved; it turns out going from initially applying to surgery takes a long time. I'll write another post soon about what has already happened and of course I'll write new posts as things continue to happen. Thanks for reading!