laurie dickinson lee

According to United Network of Organ Sharing, only 133 living donors in the entire U.S. have donated both a kidney and a portion of their liver to two different recipients.  A few years back, this was very uncommon, but more recently, we have been seeing it in the news more and more.  Many transplant centers won’t even entertain the idea of letting someone donate twice, however other transplant centers are taking a second look, and essentially asking, well, why not?  If the donor is emotionally and physically fit to donate a second time, then let them donate.

Today’s guest is double donor extraordinaire Lynn Bolduc who donated a kidney and a portion of her liver, both to strangers about 8 years apart.  Lynn tells an emotional story about a traumatic experience when she was 14, that ultimately led her down the path of organ donation later in life.  Her kidney donation story and her liver donation story are vastly different and illustrate that not all donation stories have the ending that we planned for.  Tune in to hear Lynn’s brave, bold, and vulnerable story about inspiring hope. 

Links
CrowdSource for Life
1 Year Survival Rate Post Transplant
Missouri Farmer Lives 56 Years Post Transplant
National Kidney Donation Organization

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook

Meet donor extraordinaire Jeramy Davies.  He’s not only a bone marrow expert, but he is a two-time donor, having donated both bone marrow and a kidney to the same person.  This in itself is unique to have donated twice, but so is his story.  Jeramy and his recipient Kelly have not only crushed her Hodgkin's Lymphoma together, but they have created a lifetime bond through the process.

For the thousands of people diagnosed every year with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, a cure exists. They can get a bone marrow transplant and be cured of their disease.  Over the past 30 years Be the Match operated by the National Marrow Donor Program, has managed the most diverse marrow registry in the world. They work every day to save lives through transplant.

Check out this incredible story of two strangers brought together by chance, who share much more with one another than kidneys and bone marrow.

Show Links

Join the Bone Marrow Registry

Learn more about living kidney donation (NKDO)

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook

Meet Bobby McLaughlin, Tracey Hulick, Steve Wilson and Patty Graham from the Kidney Donor Athletes (KDA) who are in Tanzania right now getting ready to climb Mt Kilimanjaro with 18 other living kidney donors.  The coolest part?  They summit on March 10 which is World Kidney Day!

KDA is a community of kidney donors who have a commitment to moving their bodies for overall health and wellness. They cover the entire spectrum of athletes from the majority who do what we can when we can, to those who are more inspired to do some crazy activities!

KDA is using this climb to bring awareness to living donation, demonstrate what is possible post-donation, and to launch initiatives which inspire, support and educate people about the experience of living donation.  When you donate a kidney, you do not give away your own personal strength or vitality.  These athletes are living proof that you can still live a full and active life after donating a kidney.  Join us for a fun and candid interview with these exceptional people!

From Bobby McLaughlin, President of KDA:  

“We want everyone to know that you too can donate a kidney to help save someone's life. How amazing is it to save someone's life with something you have inside you that you don't even need!!! 
You don't need to be a superstar athlete, you just need to be healthy enough to be cleared to donate, and we are living proof that after donation you can carry on living a fully adventurous life! 
One day it will be so amazing to have people think about donating a kidney as many people think about donating blood. 
And then our hope after that is one day, we will find a kidney transplant waitlist that reads zero. 
From the rooftop of Africa to people everywhere, may you be inspired to consider creating a most wondrous ripple in our universe!"

KDA Facebook Page
One Kidney Climb Team
Kidney Donor Athletes on YouTube
Kidney Donors Live Longer
Fear Factor, Abigail Marsh

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook

It’s illegal to buy or sell a kidney in all countries, except Iran.  But imagine if there was a waitlist of people waiting to donate a kidney, versus a waitlist of people waiting to receive a lifesaving transplant.  Could this be possible if the government financially compensated kidney donors?  What if we not only removed the disincentives to donate, but added an incentive?  What is the financial worth of a kidney, and what would donors need to be paid to ensure they are not exploited?  Why is it OK to sell sperm, eggs, blood products and skin, but not kidneys?  

Frank McCormick is a monetary economist who has recently turned his attention to the severe shortage of organs for transplantation.  He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.  He was a Senior Economist in the Division of International Finance at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington before becoming Vice President and Director of U.S. Economic and Financial Research at the Bank of America in San Francisco.  After retiring, he taught economics at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, and the Graduate School of Management at the University of California at Davis.  

While teaching, he became interested in the shortage of transplant kidneys, and, together with his co-authors, he has recently written six papers on the subject: 

• A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Government Compensation of Kidney Donors
• Would Government Compensation of Living Kidney Donors Exploit the Poor? An Empirical Analysis
• The Terrible Toll of the Kidney Shortage
• Removing Disincentives to Kidney Donation: A Quantitative Analysis
• Reducing the Shortage of Transplant Kidneys: A Lost Opportunity for the US Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
• The Government Can Save the Lives of more than 40,000 Kidney Failure Patients Each Year by Compensating Living Kidney Donors

Join us for this controversial episode that walks us through Frank’s research and decide for yourself whether kidney donors should be compensated for their kidney donation!  Let us know what you think on our Facebook Page!

Additional Resources 

Donor Diaries Website

Donor Diaries Facebook Page (New!)

Iranian Kidney Exchange- L.A. Times article

National Kidney Donation Organization (info on how to donate while alive!)

Organ Donation Registry (sign up to donate your organs at death)

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook

Episode 5 comes to you from a giant porch swing on Martha’s Vineyard, where host Laurie Lee is spending the weekend with over a dozen living kidney donors and living kidney donor advocates from the National Kidney Donation Organization.  

Meet Cody Maynard, Steve Wilson, and Terri Thede, all non-directed kidney donors from different parts of the country for a casual conversation under the vineyard stars.  Find out what happens when somebody donates a kidney without an intended recipient.  Do they get to meet the recipient?  Do they want to meet the recipient?  And did living donation positively impact their lives?  If so, what have they gained?  Learn this and more on “Real Stories from the Vineyard.”

Episode Links:
"Why Donate Our Kidney to a Stranger" by Elaine Perlman
National Kidney Donation Organization
Quality of Life After Donating

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook

Join Laurie Lee and Ned Brooks as they discuss kidney chains, lightning strikes, Freakonomics, and kidney vouchers!

Ned Brooks is a retired businessman who donated his kidney as a non-directed donor in 2015, at the age of 65, for the purpose of starting a kidney chain of three transplants. His kidney went to a young mother in Colorado. Ned was so taken by the experience that he started National Kidney Donation Organization (NKDO) for the purpose of helping prospective living donors to make their donation in as effective a manner as possible and with the most protections available in the industry.

NKDO now has over 30 donors and recipients who mentor both donor candidates and patients seeking a donor. NKDO works very closely with the National Kidney Registry (NKR) because the NKR is affiliated with about 100 transplant centers across the country and runs Donor Shield, a suite of protections for living donors.

Ned is CEO of NKDO and an ongoing student of transplant who enjoys mentoring and educating people on the need for living organ donors.

Episode Links

National Kidney Donation Organization (NKDO)
National Kidney Registry (NKR)
Ned Brooks Ted Talk
Make Me a Match (Freakonomics Radio Episode)
Ask Not what your Podcast Can Do for You (Freakonomics Radio Episode)
Donor Diaries

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook

In most cases, when someone steps forward as a living donor, nobody actually asks them to donate a kidney.  Usually, the donor hears the story of someone needing a kidney and makes the decision to donate without being asked.  

The Living Kidney Donors Network (LKDN) is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization established in 2007 by Harvey Mysel whose primary mission is to educate people in need of a kidney transplant about living kidney donation and help them communicate their need to family members and friends. LKDN also has a program that educates the public about the need for living kidney donors.

Harvey is a 2-time kidney transplant recipient. After proactively managing an inherited kidney condition, PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease) for over 20 years he had his first kidney transplant in February 2007. He was fortunate that his wife Amy was a compatible donor. 

Harvey contracted a virus, (BK Virus,) 2 years after his transplant and after years of battling this virus, in August 2012 he had his second kidney transplant. Harvey and his donor, Stephen Liegghio, who was introduced to Harvey by an advocate, were involved in a 3-way kidney paired exchange.

Most kidney donors donate to someone they know and patients need to first have the knowledge about living kidney transplants and learn how to develop their kidney campaign so they could be effective in communicating their need. The FREE online program Having Your Donor Find YOU! does just that. 

In addition to the work he does at the LKDN, Harvey is a tri-athlete, competing in a triathlon 5 months after his first transplant. He is a 3-time Gold Medal winner and Silver medalist in the Transplant Games. Harvey is an accomplished bicycle rider, tennis player, platform tennis player, bowler, hiker and rock climber.

Episode Links

Donor Diaries
Living Kidney Donors Network
Northwestern Kidney Champion Program
National Kidney Donor Organization
Johns Hopkins COVID/kidney Recipient Study

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook

Who shall live?

Meet senior transplant coordinator Doug Penrod.  Each of our podcasts feature either a living donor, or a transplant expert.  Doug is both an expert and a living donor which makes him the first Donor Diaries Double Dipper!  Join Doug and Laurie as they discuss the controversial aspects of dialysis in America and what is being done to ensure that dialysis patients understand their option to get a kidney transplant.  Find out what a “God Committee” is and learn how they determined who would live or die in the early years of dialysis machines.  Find out what compelled Doug to become a living kidney donor himself after over 20 years of working with organ donors and recipients.

Episode Links
Donor Diaries
Organ Donor Registry (deceased donation)
National Kidney Donor Organization (NKDO) (living donation)
Who Shall Live? (God Committees)
Dialysis:  Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook

Donor Diaries is a podcast about the beauty and messiness of living organ donation.  Get ready for some amazing stories about what happens when people decide to share their organs with other people, when people chose to share life.  The sharing of kidneys and other organs is an incredibly fascinating topic that teaches a lot about kindness, love, and life!

There are over 100,000 people on the kidney transplant waitlist today, and sadly about 13 people die each day waiting for a kidney that they never receive.  One in three Americans are at risk for developing chronic kidney disease and one in nine already have kidney disease.  Most don’t even know it.   

Donor Diaries shares unfiltered stories of kidney donation through the voices of living donors and straight talk from transplant experts who are committed to bringing the conversation of living organ donation to the forefront of society, so patients no longer have to die or suffer while waiting for a transplant.

Episode Links
Donor Diaries
Organ Donor Registry (deceased donation)
National Kidney Donor Organization (NKDO) (living donation)

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook