Undiagnosed cancer passed to transplant recipients -- Family, B...

People should consider becoming a kidney donor while they are alive. Potential candidates are very carefully screened for any diseases and are usually ruled out for even a small health issue. If they do find a though a possible health issue, they are further tested to make sure they are healthy enough to donate a kidney. People are given tests they may otherwise not take in their lifetime. I have heard of many people who have been tested to donate a kidney but were unable to do so, because they found out they had health problems that they didn't know about, including cancer. Many lives have been saved as a result of people wanting to save other lives by their being tested to donate a kidney!

I donated a kidney in September 2005 and it was the greatest experience of my life. Since I wasn't able to donate another kidney, I felt I wanted to at least help others who are in desperate need of a kidney by trying to find kidney donors for others. I first took out a booth to promote kidney donation at an expo in the Javits Center in December 2005. I spoke at an Organ Donation Seminar in July 2006 and a Kidney Disease and Organ Transplantation Forum in November 2006 that was attended by government officials. I have accumulated a long list of people who are in desperate need of a kidney. People have heard about me through articles that have been written about me, through word of mouth, and on radio interviews, including This American Life on NPR. I have also seen ads placed by people who are in need of a kidney and contacted them as well. I also contacted a newspaper about an article that was written about an African American ex-cop who needed a kidney, and I was partially responsible in her getting someone to donate a kidney to her. I have been able to make matches for some people who are in need of a kidney and have more matches in the works. By the way - I am not a kidney broker, I don't charge and don't get paid for doing this, and don't pay anyone to donate a kidney! I do it for the mitzvah.

I got my brother to donate a kidney to someone on my list who was in need of a kidney.

A kidney from a living donor usually lasts much longer than a cadaver kidney. They say a person who gets a kidney from a cadaver, that kidney can last on average 10 years and from a living kidney donor, a transplanted kidney can last as long as 25 years. Hoping more people will consider becoming a living kidney donor so more lives will be saved. And you never know – they may find that they are not eligible to donate a kidney through all the medical testing they have to go through, but instead they may end up saving their own life!


Sincerely,

Chaya Lipschutz
KidneyMitzvah@aol.com

Info/article/video on kidney donation and people who have donated a kidney:

1. Living Organ Donor – the details: http://www.livingorgandonor.org/details.htm

2. Giving Life: The Story Of Organ Donation –½ hour special – ABC-TV, Los Angeles. This story is on their website, devided into 8 segments.(I am in the 3rd segment: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story...

3. Story about Philip Palmer, TV Anchorman, ABC-TV, Los Angeles who donated a kidney: http://youtube.com/watch...

4. Kidney donor, recipient meet: http://youtube.com/watch...

5. My brother & I who both donated a kidney: http://www.jewishpress.com/displaycontent.cfm...

6. Virginia Prostel on donating a kidney: http://www.dynamist.com/articles-speeches/ope...

Submitted by:
Chaya Lipschutz
KidneyMitzvah@aol.com

^^ We need more people like you.

Please visit:

www.alexspromise.org