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by Mona Smith (Author), Sovereign Valentine (Author)
Need a kidney? Or know someone who does? The average kidney transplant recipient waits 3-5 years for a match-kidney. Many people wait longer. Out of necessity, I started using social-media the same week I got home from emergency hospitalization for Stage 5 kidney failure due to hereditary polycystic kidney disease, at age 50. Being too anemic and weak to even stand, I lay in my bed and began my social-media campaign to find a replacement kidney. The first day I spent hours posting and in the first weak we had 23 potential matches...more than most kidney patients ever get. Over the next 18 months, me and my sister continued and the numbers grew and grew. Currently on the transplant list at The University of Washington, Seattle, the transplant team has their work cut out for them screening all my potential donors. As a result, we have been able to include other who need kidneys as possible kidney cross-match in what many would call record time. Social-media is a very powerful and simple tool to use to find kidney-donors you wouldn't otherwise meet. In my first week, my message went out to one-hundred-thousand viewers. With my sister's help we have far exceeded our expectations very quickly. This strategy works so well that doctors, nurses and dialysis centers have been referring patients to us to help them find good kidney matches! By applying these principles you can reduce the wait time for finding suitable kidney donors by half!
