brother needs a Kidney, and no one is a match

[antree]

My brother is now 33 yrs old and for the last 3 years he has been on the list for a Kidney transplant. In May of 2006 it came out of nowhere he started feeling aches and pains, and was tired a lot. By July they told him he had Kidney Stones {but of course it wasn't}, then his blood pressure went out of control and by Sept. his Kidney was failing. He was diagnosed with Wegener's Granulomatosis it is an uncommon disease that affects about 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 30,000 people.
None of our family members are a match for him. He has A+ blood type.
He is losing the little kidney function he has left.
They told him he can be on the list at least another 2 yrs.
How can we go about helping to find a kidney sooner?

He is active with the National Kidney Foundation. He is actually throwing a benefit to help raise money for the foundation and Disney donated 4 one day park hopper ticket to auction off you know what I am trying to win.

It is so sad seeing him leave for dialysis and how tired he is becoming and swollen because the kidney is starting to fail total now. It's not fair that his kids are so young and knows every other day their dad is stuck at dialysis and he can't play or go out with them, then he comes home tired and sick.

I was thinking about putting an ad in the newspaper, can I do that? I heard someone received a kidney from craiglist. We need to help him.

Any suggestions?

Thanks Maria

 

[Liz]

I wish I had some advice for you. I just wanted to say good luck and it's really nice you are looking for ways to help your brother. My daugher had a heart transplant when she was 6 weeks old and she's 20 now so transplantation is a wonderful thing.

 

[rie'smom]

I'd place an ad. It may be successful.

 

[disykat]

Do they have a trade-in pool? I'm not sure what they call it, but at one time I heard talk of a pool where a family member could sign up to be a donor for a stranger and then your brother would get "credit" to get another match from the pool of live donors.



I have no more info since my mom's kidneys bounced back a bit and she has avoided dialysis/transplant.

 

[robinb]

People really bid on kidneys? I thought that everyone was put on the same list and it was first come first serve.

I hope that your brother finds a match soon {{hugs}}.

 

[disykat]

People really bid on kidneys? I thought that everyone was put on the same list and it was first come first serve.

I hope that your brother finds a match soon {{hugs}}.

Did anyone say they did? Where did you see that?

 

[snarlingcoyote]

How do you test for compatibility to kidneys anyway? Is it just blood type?

 

[bumbershoot]

I have a friend who is A-...unfortunately, she just had a liver transplant, so I doubt she'd be giving up a kidney right now. The night she had her liver transplant, 8 other transplant operations were happening in the hospital, along with a scheduled kidney transplant with a live donor...


Anyway, from my friend's liver transplant, and then it turned out that Steve Jobs had his at practically the same time, I found out that you can be registered with more than one region at the same time, assuming you can get there, stay there as long as you need to, and your insurance covers it (or you can pay for all the consultations). Is that possible with a kidney transplant? If so, is it possible for him?

good luck to your brother!!!

 

[raysnkaysmom]

I'd definitely try craigslist. Sounds like a long shot, but its a shot. I'd place ads in the local paper..wherever. Reason I think it's all worth it (besides of course, the fact it's your brother), is because I remember seeing an episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition, and one lady donated her kidney to a complete stranger, and they never even met until the show...
So, there are people out there willing to help someone else. Give it a try, and Good Luck!

 

[robinb]

Did anyone say they did? Where did you see that?

Sorry, my train of thought derailed from Craislist to eBay. Still, I've never heard about someone buying a kidney on Craislist eiter. It also kinda sounded like fund raising for the NKF helped move him up on the list, but I'm sure that's not true.

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

When it comes to possibly helping save the life of a family member, I'd pull out all the stops.

What have you got to lose? Put up fliers, talk to everyone, place ads, shout it from the rooftops! If you find a healthy stranger who is a match and willing to help save a life (even in return for compensation) then it's all worth it. If nothing pans out, so you're out some time and money for ads and such. At least you will have tried.

There is no harm in asking for help. Sure, you'll get a bunch of whack-a-doodle responses but you can wade through them and maybe find that needle in a haystack.

Contact your church (or similar social group), your friends, your neighbors, local newspapers (what an awesome human interest story!), spread the word. You never know what might happen.

Best of luck!

 

[mumom95]

How do you test for compatibility to kidneys anyway? Is it just blood type?

I was wondering the same thing?

 

[lindsmom]

Still, I've never heard about someone buying a kidney on Craislist eiter.

I don't think you can BUY a kidney - it violates the rules, but you can ask strangers to donate.

How do you test for compatibility to kidneys anyway? Is it just blood type?

I'm pretty sure that blood type is the primary match, then they look for secondary factors to decrease the odds of rejection.

Good Luck to OP. My nephew (17) is toward the top of the list right now - dialysis 3x a week.

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

I was curious as to how a match is made as well so here's some info I found:

http://www.aakp.org/aakp-library/Transplant-Compatibility/index.cfm

Basically, it start with blood type. Type O is the universal kidney donor so in this case, the OP's brother would need a donor with Type O or A (the RH factor, - or +, is irrelevant in kidney matches).

Then it proceeds to tissue matching (this is done with a mouth swab, just like in finding blood marrow matches) in the hopes of getting as many of the six antigens matched as possible. Six out of six is ideal, but fewer matches can work as well.

Last is cross-matching which involves mixing the blood from donor and recipient (in a laboratory) to see if there are any antibodies in the recipient's blood which attack the donor's blood. If not, it's good.

So I'd say that if you start by looking for a blood type match you can go from there. I know that for the marrow matches (I registered with the National Marrow Registry many years ago) you'll find the best tissue matches in the same ethnic group.

I'd talk to his doctor to get specifics on what you should look for in a potential donor and put out feelers.

 

[antree]

Thank you all for the responds, testing is done just like MyDizneyBoyz said.

I wish being involved with the Kidney Foundation helped him get closer to the list, but it doesn't he just found out the list got longer and now he has more years to wait, he thought he was down to his last 6mos, but now it went up to 2 more years of waiting.

In just the last few weeks we found out that his kidney was beginning to total fail. While I was on the PC looking for information, I saw a website that some guy's daughters started, their father needed a kidney, they advertised it on Craiglist under volunteer work and someone see it replied and was a match. He got his kidney.


lindsmom- I feel for your nephew, it is horrible what they go through. Good Luck to him

I am in the middle of writing a flier up to pass out at the benefit, I never thought of passing it everywhere, That is what we will do. Thank You.
Also I will call the newspaper and see how to go about an ad.

They do have a swap, where one family member trades for another. My brother is looking into it now.

Thank You all for listening and all the advice, when you can't think straight you need other people to step in and help.

Maria

 

[C.Ann]

My Dstepdaughters stepson is in the same situation.. His dad donated one of his kidneys to him several years ago, but now that kidney has failed as well.. He's on a waiting list and it's so hard for the family to watch him going downhill.. He has a wife and a toddler.. It's beginning to take it's toll on his other organs as well.. Not long ago, he had a heart attack - his second.. He has siblings, but although they match, they have been advised not to donate a kidney because his condition is hereditary and they could all face the same thing somewhere down the line..

I will definitely keep your brother in my prayers - pull out all the stops and do whatever you can to find him that kidney!

 

[georgina]

Every now and then there is a news story here in Pittsburgh about cross donation - where Family 1 donates to an unrelated person from Family 2 and Family 2 donates one to Family 1.

here is a story of a 3-way donation http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-76653044.html

 

[raysnkaysmom]

My Dstepdaughters stepson is in the same situation.. His dad donated one of his kidneys to him several years ago, but now that kidney has failed as well.. He's on a waiting list and it's so hard for the family to watch him going downhill.. He has a wife and a toddler.. It's beginning to take it's toll on his other organs as well.. Not long ago, he had a heart attack - his second.. He has siblings, but although they match, they have been advised not to donate a kidney because his condition is hereditary and they could all face the same thing somewhere down the line..

I will definitely keep your brother in my prayers - pull out all the stops and do whatever you can to find him that kidney!

That'd be rough.... I'd say depending on my age and how healthy I'd been, I'd probably still donate to my sibling if their life depended on it, regardless of doctor 'advice'.... Sure, somewhere down the line, I may need it (but thats when you hope for good karma)... but, hey...I may not!!!

Good Luck and Best Wishes to all going through this... so hard I'm sure!

 

[antree]

C.Ann I am so sorry to hear that. My prayers are with him and his family.

I was just talking to my brother and I was wrong his blood type is A+

The National Kidney Foundation had the annually kick off party tonight at Dave's and Buster's. it was really nice, they talked about fund raising, and showed their video and my brother is in it, we had dinner and played in the game area. The kids had a ball. The foundation pays for all his medical and they pay for the transplants.
Checkout the video from the foundation. Our team is in the blue shirts my brother who needs the transplant is the one talking, then my father talks. This is from the Kidney walk at the Philadelphia Zoo last October. He looks so cute when he gives the Peace sign, watch for it as the video goes on. My son and Daughter and I were too far off and didn't make it in the video. My 7 yr old son was not too happy about that. Kids.

Click on watch the Kidney Walk Video.
http://walk.kidney.org/site/PageServer

Can you believe our team raised over $10,000.00 last year. Go team Grubb!
With out the NKF they would have no medical. So my brother wants to do whatever he can to help them, too.

Thanks for listening.

 

[antree]

I am calling my Church and my brothers church today. I never thought of them. Thanks MyDizneyBoyz.