The skyrocketing rate of kidney disease, the enormous annual cost of dialysis and the human suffering of end stage renal disease are the face of America’s kidney deficit.  It’s one of the most complex medical issues facing our society.  While complex problems require complex solutions, experts agree that increased awareness about living kidney donation is a broad solution that can trigger widespread positive change. The kidney transplant/donation community is rallying around Abundant because our film about selfless giving features living kidney donors.  It’s expected that this kind of attention will begin new conversations about living kidney donation in diverse communities around the country.  With greater awareness, it’s believed progress can be made on these enormous challenges.

If you are interested in learning more about living kidney donation, click on the National Kidney Donation Organization logo below.  This portal will connect you to a trained living kidney donor mentor from NKDO.

People with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD, commonly known as kidney failure) eventually must go on dialysis to stay alive.  Dialysis is not a cure; it just extends the life of these patients.  Many of these patients get on the transplant waitlist and wait for a kidney from a deceased donor.  Unfortunately, many people are on this list for years, and end up dying while waiting, as there is a 50% mortality rate for those on dialysis after 5 years.  For a multitude of reasons, many are not candidates for a kidney transplant, and many are not even aware that it is an option.  But medical reasons are not the only barrier for some to receive a kidney transplant.  Several factors contribute to a kidney deficit in America.  Outside the healthcare system itself, racial and cultural biases, basic misunderstanding of the facts and possibilities about kidney transplant, a limited supply of donated kidneys and a huge medical corporate complex funded by Medicare entitlements for dialysis contribute to the growing kidney deficit.  Meanwhile, America’s general poor health, habits, and diet contributes to the growing epidemic of diabetes, which is a leading cause of kidney disease.

Donate Life America promotes the statistics that, while 95 percent of U.S. adults support organ donation, only 54 percent are actual registered donors.  Due to long-term state and national awareness campaigns, most people believe signing the back of their drivers’ license assures they will be a deceased organ donor.  Unfortunately, only 3 in 1,000 people die in a way that allows for them to donate their organs.  Additionally, even if every American was registered to be a donor upon death, this would only provide an additional 12,000 kidney transplants a year in our country.  We cannot rely on an increase in deceased donations alone to solve the kidney crisis.

Deceased kidney donation is not enough, which is why increasing awareness of living kidney donation facts is so important.

Many of the kidney community’s leading experts appear in Abundant because of these important points.  (left, Harvey Mysel, Founder of The Living Kidney Donor Network, (center) Kidney Transplant Surgeon Juan Caicedo, MD FACS, Founder of the Hispanic Transplant Program at Northwestern University and (right) Alvin Roth, Ph.D who won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Economics for his work in kidney exchange.)

Nobel Prize Laureate Alvin Roth, PhD is an expert interviewed for Abundant.  Roth won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in market design which led to the birth of kidney exchange.   A paired kidney exchange, also known as a “kidney swap” occurs when a living kidney donor is incompatible with their intended recipient but does match another kidney patient who also has an incompatible donor.  Paired kidney donation transplant enables two incompatible recipients to receive healthy, more compatible kidneys. These exchanges sometimes can be extended into larger chains of donor pairs, potentially increasing the impact of donation even farther. Donor and recipient pairs who are compatible can also participate in paired donation in order to help an incompatible pair be able to donate and receive a transplant.  Non-directed donors can expand the possibilities.  Nondirected living organ donors have become increasingly important in recent years to meet a growing need for organs for transplant and fill a shortage of available organs from deceased organ donors. Nondirected living organ donors are often vital to linking several pairs of incompatible donor and recipient pairs to form a donation chain.

When faced with the challenge of finding a living donor, most people freeze, and ask nobody for help.  Those who have the courage to tell their story and ask for help often succeed in finding a living donor.  Harvey Mysel, founder of the Living Kidney Donors Network (LKDN) is an expert interviewed for Abundant.  Harvey is a two-time kidney transplant recipient who has created a proven process to help people who need a kidney transplant find a living donor.  LKDN’s programs are basic, hands-on and effective.  Most people facing end stage renal disease are scared and inexperienced at the kind of communication and networking that empower a search for kidney.  LKDN’s  program helps overcome the primary obstacle voiced by many, the thought of having to “Ask" someone to donate.