After reading the article ‘Kevin & Bean’ co-host ‘Bean’ Baxter to donate kidney to KROQ DJlatimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-kroq-kevin-and-bean-20121102,0,3328432.story in the LA Times Nov. 2, I felt compelled to share my personal story …. my husband Elliot needs a kidney. I was tested to be a donor but am not a compatible candidate.
Elliot is a patient at UCLA and his wonderful doctor, Anjay Rastogi, MD, Ph.D., Medical Director of the UCLA Living Kidney Donor Program, will speak at the BCC meeting February 5, 2013 about becoming a donor. Dr. Rastogi will also be at our SBRA Annual Meeting April 18, 2013.
“It wasn’t a big, like, emotional decision for me to offer my kidney up to Scott,†Baxter said on the air Thursday. “It was a math problem for me. It was, ‘You have zero and I have two; well, why don’t I just give you one?’ And that just made sense to me.â€
Baxter said the main message he hoped to get across to listeners was the importance of doing something even as simple as giving blood, or signing up to donate organs after death.
Becoming a donor:
Most people can donate who don’t have high blood pressure, cardiac problems or some other medical condition and are between the ages of 18-70. Kidneys from living donors last, on average, twice as long as kidneys from cadavers; the waiting list in California for a cadaver kidney could be as long as 7 years.
Here’s some basic information about kidney donation:
· We are born with an extra kidney – you only need one to live a full, healthy, long life.
· The majority of the donor surgery is done laparoscopically, with tiny incisions.
· The recuperation period is generally 5 days to 2 weeks for those with a desk job.
· All expenses are paid by the recipient’s insurance benefits.
· A genetic link between donor and recipient, although beneficial, is not required. This is largely due to improved anti-rejection medications.
· Most donors say if they had another extra kidney they would donate again in a heartbeat and that it is one of the best experiences of their life.
For more information about becoming a donor, go to:
www.transplants.ucla.edu
http://www.kidney.org/
UCLA Living Donor Line: 866-672-5333
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/health/lives-forever-linked-through-kidney-transplant-chain-124.html?pagewanted=all
