FREE: Heart and Green Ribbon Awareness Pin

Yes, he did. He received his kidney from his oldest sister in August of 2005. She was the first one tested. He was in the Marine Corps at the time (had been in since graduating high school in 1991), and it all happened so fast our heads were spinning.

He found out in November 2004 his kidneys were BOTH functioning at only about 25%. He was in North Carolina and we all lived in Indiana at the time, but had awesome doctors who were able to coordinate everything long-distance. My oldest daughter is very pushy and kept nagging the doctors about getting the testing underway. When he went for his final testings just before the transplant, he was where he would have had to start dialysis had he not been scheduled for his transplant.

He and his sister have both been doing great. The doctors were impressed that her kidney took right off without being "kick started" as the doctor put it. I told him that's because she was so stubborn and pushy that it didn't have any other choice!

How wonderful that you have been an organ donor. Most people think that a person has to be dead to be an organ donor. I know I never had heard of living donors until this happened. Until that time, we never really thought about organ/tissue donation. Never had anyone in our family with the need, never knew anyone who needed a transplant. Now it's a cause dear to our heart.