National Kidney Registry

Uh, they have a tremendous website.

Another website is National Kidney Registry.

That's the match, that's the big matching program that I'm part of, NKR.

Um, they are the game changers that have really enabled this, um, to work.

Yeah

... a kidney on this coast.

So, um, it's, I won't say anyone anywhere, but virtually anyone, virtually anywhere, and NKR, National Kidney Registry, um, it's completely free.

They're been the game changer.

One thing that I found out that I didn't know before I even made the decision to donate was that All living kidney donors, after they donate, there's a safeguard where if you were ever to need a kidney transplant in the future, you are automatically put to the top of the wait list to receive one.

And if you go through the National Kidney Registry, then you're automatically put at the top of the wait list for a living kidney transplant.

But all donors are put to the top of the wait list for a deceased kidney transplant no matter what.

Wow.

Yeah.

It's great insurance.

And then on top of that, one of the main, I guess people have a concern of, okay, if I donate a kidney to a stranger, what if I have a family member that one day needs my kidney, but I already gave mine away? There's actually a safeguard for that as well, which is if you go through the National Kidney Registry, you, in addition to your own insurance of a kidney transplant in the future, if you need one, You can name five people to receive a kidney voucher.

So if one of those five people ever needs a kidney transplant, then they are put to the top of the wait list to receive a living kidney transplant.

I knew already that I was not the same blood type as my husband, so I assumed that there would be nothing that I could do.

But I found an organization called the National Kidney Registry, and they facilitate living kidney and liver donors here in the United States.

And what that does is, even though I'm not a match to my husband, If I was willing to let my kidney go to an anonymous recipient on the wait list, then that would bump my husband up and he would be guaranteed a living donor certificate.

What a gift.

Is there a fee that they have to pay to be able to help someone? How does that roll?

That's a great question.

So the National Kidney Registry or any transplant hospital will help educate with all of the details on that.

But there is absolutely no cost associated to somebody who wants to donate their kidney.