The Adventures of Kidney Boy

A Journal About Living With End Stage Renal Disease. Dialysis. Transplants. Love. Family. Friends. The Unsung Donor. This is my life, from the end of a needle to the bottom of a pill bottle.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

The Others

You know, not being on dialysis is a blessing, really.

But it makes me think of others who still go through the process - those who are on it, those who will go on it... and those who will never get off of it.  I also think about those who go through the process of signing up for a transplant.

It's not the fault of the general public, but I often run into people who sometimes think organ transplants are this run of the mill thing - lose an organ, just get a new one and be on your way.  They don't understand what it all entails - the maintence, the drugs you take, the lifestyle you have to lead.  Your life never returns to "normal" afterwards.  You have to take care of your graft.  And it's not an easy process to go through.  Nor is donating an organ.  I never used to bat an eye when people made a joke about "selling a kidney" to get something they want.  Now, whenever I hear someone crack a joke about that, I sadly think to myself about just how valuable that organ is to someone else.  What kind of mountains they'd cross just to be able to obtain one.  Selling your kidney... it's really not that funny.  And I'm the LAST person to get all sensitive about some politically incorrect joke, but there you have it - when you are a part of something, those little jokes do make you think.  I don't get upset for myself as much as I think about others who have donated, for free, and others who need that organ.  I think about how offering some kidney on the "black market" might not even be compatible with someone who'd buy it.

I think about my father, who donated a kidney for me - not because he wanted some new stupid car, or some fancy car, or whatever other "thing" someone might desire.  He donated it because he wanted his son.  That's what you "sell" your kidney for.  For love. For family. For friends. For life.  And you don't sell it, because you really can't buy giving someone else an extension on their life.  So, yeah, when someone says they'd sell a kidney for an "Escalade" or a "New iPhone", I want to show them what that kidney really buys - I want to show them that it's saved thousands of people who have been saved and gone on to live lives that have changed worlds.

Become aware of what organ donation can do.  Sign your cards. Tell your family that you want to donate if you can.  And if you are, or may become, a living donor - I'm one of a chorus of hundreds of thousands who will hug you, and say "thank you" for being a great human being.  If I had the money, I'd buy you that iPhone just for doing it... for someone else.

~Steve

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