Donating
Spares Needed!Both events were very good. Both hospitals are NKR.org network facilities so Lynn and I talking about “the little things” of the voucher program and other NKR programs came easy and natural.
Everyone knew what we were talking about from Donor Connect, to Kidney for Life, to the best match possible due to the biggest pool of hospitals to choose from.
It was a fun day and we even met a gal named Cameron that works at the PR Firm that represents St. David’s whose parents lived in Plover, WI (where we live, population 13,500) when she was born.
There was the Nurse practitioner in the transplant unit that grew up 30 miles from us.
At Dell Seton we met the Transplant Program Dir. Dr. Turgeon and one of her docs, Dr. Adler, that both know our surgeon, Dr. Mezrich, in Madison, WI.
The banner the Dell Seton Team made was special and many of the staff signed it.
There were other Sconnie connections like one of the TV reporters/cameramen that came out to interview us being from WI.
We also did a short ride with Transplant Director Dr. Shaw at St. David’s.
We met a 74 year old kidney donor, Tom Duncan, from Wimberley, TX. I believe he’s the oldest living donor in the USA.
We met kidney recipient Aaron Willridge. A local who was an extra/background actor in some tv shows/movies and who wants to, like Lynn and me, share the fact that this shortage of kidney donors is a solvable problem.
It was a fantastic 2 days in Austin with 2 outstanding NKR network hospitals. We made some friendships here.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention our hosts for the 2 nights we spent in Austin.
Marc and Maria.
Maria has a sister from NY that had kidney disease. When it progressed to the point over many years that she needed a kidney, she moved to Florida because the wait time was much shorter there for a deceased kidney. She received a kidney and is part of NKDO. When I appealed to the NKDO members about hosting Lynn and me for TOT 4.5 she volunteered her sister (Maria) here in Austin. Amazing connections.
