1. Be my living kidney donor

• You can save my life by going out of your way for a few weeks and taking a small amount of risk in surgery
  • You will be screened for any condition that could potentially make the surgery risk your health in the short term or long term. This means many people won’t make it through the assessment process and those who do are highly unlikely to be harmed by the surgery.
• My insurance will pay for your testing, surgery and recovery
  • You will be screened for cardiovascular issues, some cancers, etc. The screening process can take 1 month but usually takes ~6 months – with the time dependent on how quickly you are able to schedule and complete screening appointments.
• In the highly unlikely event that you have kidney failure after donating one of your two kidneys despite health screening, you will have priority access to a kidney from a deceased patient, bypassing the ~90,000-person waitlist.
• Your recovery should be quick – out of the hospital within a couple days and feeling normal within a few weeks.
• You can choose the date of the surgery
• After donation, you can still have a long, healthy, normal life: eat and drink what you want, no need for medication, exercise normally, have a baby after donation, etc.
• Your blood type and kidney tissue type don’t need to match mine: paired donation can create a chain of kidney donations helping many patients at once (Programs for Donor/Recipient Pairs with Incompatible Blood Types | National Kidney Foundation)
• 10 Things You Should Know About Living Kidney Donation | University of Utah Health
• Becoming a Living Donor | National Kidney Foundation
• Ask questions about the process (any questions – this is not a group that will pressure you to donate, they are there to educate) or become my donor: UCLAKidneyDonor@mednet.ucla.edu or 866-672-5333. Or contact me at any time! robert@saverobert.com
• Every living kidney donor helps reduce size of the ~90,000-person kidney wait list. Your donation will help me and everyone on the list behind me in California, Arizona and Arkansas.

2. Spread the word!

• Create an appeal for me on a social media platform
• Add me to your church’s prayer list
• Mention my predicament to friends and family

3. Register to be an organ donor in the unlikely event that you pass away while your kidneys are still healthy

• This won’t directly help me but may eventually help some of the other ~90,000 people in kidney failure waiting for transplant in the U.S.
• In California: register.donatelifecalifornia.org/register

Please read my “Why” below

People whose kidneys have failed live longer with a kidney transplant than they do when treated with dialysis

• Every extra day means more time with Andrew, Anne and the rest of the family.
• I want to spend more time with Andrew while he is still young. I want to see Andrew graduate from high school.
• Every extra day means more time with friends, more time for travel.

Kidney transplants from living donors last longer than kidneys from deceased donors: about 15 – 20 years on average vs. 7 – 10 for a kidney from a deceased donor (according to Becoming a Living Donor | National Kidney Foundation). 8 – 10 years longer. I have met two people whose kidneys from living donors have lasted more than 20 years. At 46 years old I hope to find a forever kidney.

• A kidney transplant from a deceased donor would likely need to be redone when I am in my late 50s or early 60s. There is a reasonable chance that I will not be able to be transplanted after years on dialysis in my late 50s/early 60s. A kidney from a living donor will probably extend my life by years.

Very long wait lists: Wait lists to receive kidney transplants from deceased people are years long. In California, the waitlist for a patient with O negative blood like me is about 10 years. There is a good chance that without a transplant I won’t live that long. I am also listed for a deceased donor kidney in Arizona and Arkansas – but the wait lists in other areas are also years long. Transplant in another state would also require relocation, uprooting my family for a few months.

Missing time with my family: Each dialysis (treatment) session takes 5 hours including drive time. On treatment days (typically M/W/F) I only see our boy in the hour before he leaves for school: I’m at treatment from before he gets home from school until after his bedtime.

Quality of life. My kidneys failed March 2023. I was very sick during 2023 and was finally cleared for transplant surgery in March 2024. After a period of relative health from February to early May 2024 I got sick, my treatment (peritoneal dialysis) failed, I ended up with a couple new health issues, a new catheter and a new treatment regimen: in-center hemodialysis. Hemodialysis is a tiring rollercoaster.

Diet. With a kidney transplant I will be able to drink as much as I want (non-alcoholic of course) and eat a much wider range of food. My current diet is <= 24 oz of water per day, high protein, low salt, low potassium, low phosphate. It is very limiting: no or very limited amounts of tomatoes, potatoes, banana, avocado, mangos and most tropical fruit, orange juice, dairy, nuts and beans, chocolate, etc. Very little restaurant food, which is extremely salty!

Energy. People with kidney transplants have more energy and more consistent energy than people treated with dialysis. They also don’t spend 15 hours every week in dialysis. There is no alternative treatment for my condition except transplant.

What I miss. Time with family. Time in general: I am often tired and need to rest. Feeling healthy. Eating without worrying about nausea. Being able to drink and eat so many things – I love food and the combination of regular nausea and significant dietary restrictions impacts me every day. After a transplant my diet will be much less restricted and I will have more energy and feel better all around.

How to help