Comments on: This girl needs a kidney

By: Rob Morales

Rob Morales — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:26:17 +0000

A kidney donor was found. An interesting take on the Twitter aspect can be found here:

http://www.youruinedmychildhood.com/blog/2008/12/2/whats-the-f-ing-point-of-social-media.html?lastPage=true

By: Jenn

Jenn — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:51:00 +0000

Also, I don’t expect any compensation. By mentioning the military I meant that I have health insurance. I would need to double check coverage, but I’m sure that donating an organ can’t be exactly frowned upon.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:49:43 +0000

I’m type B POS. If I’m a match, I’ll donate. My grandfather needed a kidney for years. He recently passed away, and I am a complete organ donor if anything ever happens to me. However, I am in good health and military. I am more than willing to give up a kidney. I certainly only need one.

By: Doc Searls

Doc Searls — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:17:17 +0000

Jason, the only compensation I know of that matters is the satisfaction of knowing you have made a sacrifice to help a fellow human being. But if it's money you want, you can look it up.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:26:52 +0000

Hi my name is jason, Im 20 years old and very athletic I dont do drugs or drink and I am considering donating a kidney but Im nervous and wondering what kind of compensations would be involved with a transplant?

By: Michael Fraase

Michael Fraase — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:56:55 +0000

Whoops — I meant to add this to the previous comment.

If Marielle can’t find a match there’s a relatively new option she can try:

Consider Marielle recipient A
Consider Marielle’s potential donor (who can’t donate to Marielle because s/he isn’t a match) donor A
Consider recipient B the person for whom donor A is a match
Consider donor B to be a match for Marielle

Donor B donates to recipient A
Donor A donates to recipient B

This is called paired donation and there’s no reason why it can’t get mathematically quite complex.

By: Michael Fraase

Michael Fraase — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:40:08 +0000

Assuming that only the normal co-morbidities (high blood pressure, severe anemia, problems with potassium and phosphorous, hyperparathyroidism, etc.) are present in her kidney failure, Marielle is decidedly *not* dying.

End-stage renal disease (permanent kidney failure) is not a terminal disease. Nor is it curable. But it is treatable, most commonly with dialysis or transplant.

I wouldn’t wish the condition on anyone — I’ve been an end-stage renal disease patient on dialysis for almost nine years — but it’s not ordinarily a terminal condition.

All that said, I hope she finds a match.