I knew my friend had kidney disease but she was doing well. After lunch one day, she told me that she needed to go on dialysis or have a transplant. I’m not sure why but I immediately blurted out that I would be her donor. She laughed and said she doubted I would be a match. But I knew I would be. I am an RN so I wasn’t ignorant of the hoops I would need to jump through to get to the transplant surgery. I didn’t want her on dialysis and I knew she would have a better outcome with a living donor.
After weeks of testing, there we were in the same room waiting to be taken to the operating room. The first words our nurse said to me when I woke up after surgery was “She’s making urine!” What a wonderful phrase!

After a very uneventful recovery, my journey did not come to a close. I didn’t tell many people about the transplant for years but then I realized I needed to let people know that living donation was a possibility. My friend and I were proof of that. It changed the way I felt about myself and gave me the ability to educate others on how to save a life through living donation. I continually thank my friend for giving me the opportunity to be part of her life story.