July 07, 2021
NKF staff member becomes a living donor
The availability of kidneys from living donors is crucial to the survival of many kidney patients, but thousands of loved ones will spend years — even decades — on the kidney transplant wait list. Too many will lose their fight far too soon.
Knowing this led Miriam Godwin, National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Health Policy Director, to the altruistic decision to help others by becoming a living donor during National Donate Life Month in April. Miriam’s generous gift facilitated two transplants through a program called a paired kidney exchange.
An exchange allows living donors to give the gift of life even when their blood type is incompatible with their initial recipient.
Sometimes a transplant candidate has someone who wants to donate a kidney to them, but tests reveal that the kidney would not be a good medical match. A kidney exchange gives that transplant candidate another option: living donor kidneys are swapped so each recipient receives a compatible transplant.
Of the 37 million adults in the United States who have kidney diseases, a disproportionate number of those people are Black or African American, Hispanic, or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian American, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.
These communities also face unacceptable health disparities and inequities in healthcare delivery.
“It’s my job to make kidney transplants more accessible, but the tools to create system-level change are limited and take time. No one should be denied the opportunity for kidney health because of the circumstances of their birth. I became a living donor because I knew I could help one person right now, so I did. It was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made," said Miriam Godwin, NKF Health Policy Director and a living kidney donor.
To learn more about living organ donations, visit kidney.org/livingdonation
