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Episode 5 comes to you from a giant porch swing on Martha’s Vineyard, where host Laurie Lee is spending the weekend with over a dozen living kidney donors and living kidney donor advocates from the National Kidney Donation Organization.  

Meet Cody Maynard, Steve Wilson, and Terri Thede, all non-directed kidney donors from different parts of the country for a casual conversation under the vineyard stars.  Find out what happens when somebody donates a kidney without an intended recipient.  Do they get to meet the recipient?  Do they want to meet the recipient?  And did living donation positively impact their lives?  If so, what have they gained?  Learn this and more on “Real Stories from the Vineyard.”

Episode Links:
"Why Donate Our Kidney to a Stranger" by Elaine Perlman
National Kidney Donation Organization
Quality of Life After Donating

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook
GiftWorks Website
Connect with Laurie Lee

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Join Laurie Lee and Ned Brooks as they discuss kidney chains, lightning strikes, Freakonomics, and kidney vouchers!

Ned Brooks is a retired businessman who donated his kidney as a non-directed donor in 2015, at the age of 65, for the purpose of starting a kidney chain of three transplants. His kidney went to a young mother in Colorado. Ned was so taken by the experience that he started National Kidney Donation Organization (NKDO) for the purpose of helping prospective living donors to make their donation in as effective a manner as possible and with the most protections available in the industry.

NKDO now has over 30 donors and recipients who mentor both donor candidates and patients seeking a donor. NKDO works very closely with the National Kidney Registry (NKR) because the NKR is affiliated with about 100 transplant centers across the country and runs Donor Shield, a suite of protections for living donors.

Ned is CEO of NKDO and an ongoing student of transplant who enjoys mentoring and educating people on the need for living organ donors.

Episode Links

National Kidney Donation Organization (NKDO)
National Kidney Registry (NKR)
Ned Brooks Ted Talk
Make Me a Match (Freakonomics Radio Episode)
Ask Not what your Podcast Can Do for You (Freakonomics Radio Episode)
Donor Diaries

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook
GiftWorks Website
Connect with Laurie Lee

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In most cases, when someone steps forward as a living donor, nobody actually asks them to donate a kidney.  Usually, the donor hears the story of someone needing a kidney and makes the decision to donate without being asked.  

The Living Kidney Donors Network (LKDN) is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization established in 2007 by Harvey Mysel whose primary mission is to educate people in need of a kidney transplant about living kidney donation and help them communicate their need to family members and friends. LKDN also has a program that educates the public about the need for living kidney donors.

Harvey is a 2-time kidney transplant recipient. After proactively managing an inherited kidney condition, PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease) for over 20 years he had his first kidney transplant in February 2007. He was fortunate that his wife Amy was a compatible donor. 

Harvey contracted a virus, (BK Virus,) 2 years after his transplant and after years of battling this virus, in August 2012 he had his second kidney transplant. Harvey and his donor, Stephen Liegghio, who was introduced to Harvey by an advocate, were involved in a 3-way kidney paired exchange.

Most kidney donors donate to someone they know and patients need to first have the knowledge about living kidney transplants and learn how to develop their kidney campaign so they could be effective in communicating their need. The FREE online program Having Your Donor Find YOU! does just that. 

In addition to the work he does at the LKDN, Harvey is a tri-athlete, competing in a triathlon 5 months after his first transplant. He is a 3-time Gold Medal winner and Silver medalist in the Transplant Games. Harvey is an accomplished bicycle rider, tennis player, platform tennis player, bowler, hiker and rock climber.

Episode Links

Donor Diaries
Living Kidney Donors Network
Northwestern Kidney Champion Program
National Kidney Donor Organization
Johns Hopkins COVID/kidney Recipient Study

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook
GiftWorks Website
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Who shall live?

Meet senior transplant coordinator Doug Penrod.  Each of our podcasts feature either a living donor, or a transplant expert.  Doug is both an expert and a living donor which makes him the first Donor Diaries Double Dipper!  Join Doug and Laurie as they discuss the controversial aspects of dialysis in America and what is being done to ensure that dialysis patients understand their option to get a kidney transplant.  Find out what a “God Committee” is and learn how they determined who would live or die in the early years of dialysis machines.  Find out what compelled Doug to become a living kidney donor himself after over 20 years of working with organ donors and recipients.

Episode Links
Donor Diaries
Organ Donor Registry (deceased donation)
National Kidney Donor Organization (NKDO) (living donation)
Who Shall Live? (God Committees)
Dialysis:  Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook
GiftWorks Website
Connect with Laurie Lee

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How do you ask somebody for a kidney?

Meet Johnna, a Chicago area woman with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD).  Johnna is in stage 5 kidney failure and needs a kidney transplant.  She can wait 5-7 years for a deceased donor kidney to become available, or she can find a friend or family member to become a living kidney donor on her behalf, and get a new kidney right now.  Find out what happens when Johnna’s longtime friend Mary decides to step forward to be tested as a match!

Episode Links
Johnna Needs a Kidney
PKD Foundation
Donor Diaries
Organ Donor Registry (deceased donation)
National Kidney Donor Organization (NKDO) (living donation)

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook
GiftWorks Website
Connect with Laurie Lee

Send us a text

Donor Diaries is a podcast about the beauty and messiness of living organ donation.  Get ready for some amazing stories about what happens when people decide to share their organs with other people, when people chose to share life.  The sharing of kidneys and other organs is an incredibly fascinating topic that teaches a lot about kindness, love, and life!

There are over 100,000 people on the kidney transplant waitlist today, and sadly about 13 people die each day waiting for a kidney that they never receive.  One in three Americans are at risk for developing chronic kidney disease and one in nine already have kidney disease.  Most don’t even know it.   

Donor Diaries shares unfiltered stories of kidney donation through the voices of living donors and straight talk from transplant experts who are committed to bringing the conversation of living organ donation to the forefront of society, so patients no longer have to die or suffer while waiting for a transplant.

Episode Links
Donor Diaries
Organ Donor Registry (deceased donation)
National Kidney Donor Organization (NKDO) (living donation)

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook
GiftWorks Website
Connect with Laurie Lee