Hopefully, by the time this article is published, dozens of Wildcats have already begun the screening process to see if they get to be the one to save Zoe Schumacher from the suffering of dialysis. On Aug. 30, The Collegian’s front page showed this young woman starting out in life with a tremendous need — one healthy kidney.
The article struck me in a peculiar way, because I had already pledged my kidney to a specific person. On Sept. 17, on excused absence from my classes, I underwent a left-side nephroureterectomy (removal of the kidney + ureter) in hopes of liberating a Marine veteran, husband and father from a bleak future on dialysis. However, I am not a match for the Marine; this was part of what is called a paired swap. My actual kidney was flown to an unknown recipient in the Pacific Northwest. What the Marine gets from me is a one-for-one voucher that will enable him to get a transplant in the very near future.
What does this mean for you, my reader? …(read more)