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by Rachel Bennett Steury (Author)
From the beloved writer of The Real Rachel BS comes an extraordinary tale of an unconventional act of altruism. Vulnerably told, Rachel Bennett Steury leads us through tender family memories and emerges on the other side as an inspirational beacon for the power of storytelling.
Foreword by Ned Brooks, living donor & founder of NKDO, the National Kidney Donation Organization. Afterword by J. Randy Johnson, author and retired Steelworker. Discussion questions included.
"This book offers a fascinating and enjoyable look into a world that most people do not even know exists." Dan Cragan: playwright, composer, kidney and pancreas transplant recipient.
Losing My Kidney and Finding My Voice: Confessions of a Living Donor explores the author's experiences giving away an organ to a stranger through a kidney chain, an innovative form of altruism spearheaded by the National Kidney Registry. The questions Rachel grappled with led her on a path of self-discovery to unravel why she felt moved to give of herself in an unusual way.
Rachel reveals insights from television celebrities Katie Couric, Oprah Winfrey, and her own grandmother, which prompted her to continue the family legacy of donation that began with her uncle, a beloved deceased donor. She explores her family's history with grief and suicide, and how it influenced her decision to put her kidney on a plane to Pennsylvania without her. Rachel's family expanded to include the organ donation community, which was activated all across the country to engage, motivate, and inspire their neighbors through the simple but impactful act of storytelling.
Her working-class values, coupled with decades of experience in her union (United Steelworkers), informed her decision to donate and advocate. From advocating in the halls of Congress to walking in the Rose Parade on behalf of living donors, Rachel discovered a new platform and a realm of possibilities for living a life with purpose.
For Readers Who:
-love when altruism has a ripple effect for good
-are eager to know more about organ donation advocacy, kidney chains, and kidney donation
-want to support storytelling rooted in the working class
-grapple with their own grief and generational trauma
-search for inspiration to tell their own stories as empaths or introverts
-are inspired to live with purpose and love reading about others, too
There are over 100,000 people on the national transplant waitlist waiting for a lifesaving organ donation. More than 90,000 of them are waiting for a kidney. The need for donors is so great that by the time Rachel was medically cleared to give her kidney away, there were four people hoping to become its recipient. As kidney disease impacts so many in our communities, the need for living and deceased organ donors continues to soar...
Losing My Kidney and Finding My Voice is an insightful testament to the impact living with purpose can bring. With the Foreword by Ned Brooks, living donor and founder of the National Kidney Donation Organization, we are reminded of just how rare non-directed kidney donors are and why that is. The Afterword by J. Randy Johnson, author and retired Steelworker, confirms that when we look out for each other in solidarity, life-changing things can happen.
Complete with resources to continue the conversation well after you've turned the last page, discussion questions are available for support groups, book clubs & classroom settings. To increase impact, a portion of the proceeds from this memoir will be donated to support living donor education and advocacy.
