Have you ever considered donating a kidney? Each one of us is born with two and can live with one – so why not make a difference and give life to someone in need? This is a personal topic for certain, and one that comes to mind for some on World Kidney Day 2012. For those living with kidney disease the daily stresses of dealing with dialysis to stay alive, the fatigue which invades every minute of their day and not having the freedom to travel, can be isolating and stressful. Many turn to social media for compassion, friendship and support in navigating a journey with kidney disease.
Some interesting facts to consider:
- Someone is added to the kidney transplant waiting list every 10 minutes.
- Each day 79 people receive organ transplants. However, 18 people die each day waiting for transplants due to a shortage of donated organs.
- Organ transplantation has become an accepted medical treatment for end-stage organ failure.
- As of 2009, the percentage of recipients who were still living 5-years after their transplant is: Kidney – 69.3% Heart - 74.9% Liver – 54.4% & Lung – 54.4%
What are actual recipients of a transplant sharing? Many share their personal stories on TreatmentDiaries. Below is a recent diary written by an ”End-Stage Kidney Disease” TD user at www.treatmentdiaries.com:
| “I’m 28 years old, I was born with Kidney Failure and on October 26th, 2011 I received a deceased donor Kidney Transplant. I used to feel so run down and tired that the easiest things were becoming harder and harder as life on dialysis wore on and on. Some days just getting out of bed was hard. It was like I had to force my body to get up; I had to force myself to eat and drink. But now I don’t need to work at any of it. In fact, my body works like normal. The feeling I have in me is just – WOW! The new kidney I got from a stranger has changed my life. Even if this kidney decides to fail tomorrow, I will not be all that sad because the last 3.5 months have been amazing, sure I’ve had a rough start with it but I’ve also had a 3.5 month break from dialysis, met some wonderful people at clinic and have decided that there IS more to life than going to dialysis 3 days a week and feeling like my life is over and done with before I’m even 30. And you know what? It’s all because some random person in the world, I didn’t know, decided to be an Organ Donor. You are heroes in my world; a total stranger who was kind enough to give me my life back.”Survivor and TD User |
Today there are more than enough people waiting for an organ to fill a large football stadium twice over. This is a sad statistic, but one where each of us can make an impact. TreatmentDiaries connects those on a similar journey with illness and inspires even those with any illness with the real life stories of others. Living a life affected by illness can be lonely – we don’t want you to be alone any longer. Start sharing with others today and be inspired to live well in your illness. Your diary…Shared Healing!