I am a Match

I found out today that I am a match for my friend at church.  My kidney can save his life.  While I have been through the whole process with my husband as recipient and son as donor, I kind of thought today wouldn't come.

I think since I was quickly ruled out as a donor for my husband, that my kidney would never be acceptable to another person.  However, I thought that I would go ahead and be tested for my friend.  He is too old to be placed on the cadaver donor list and would, therefore, only be eligible for a transplant if he brought his own donor.  I think I thought I would never match.  But at the same time, my heart said I need to be tested anyway.  It only took two weeks, and I only thought a little bit about it during that time.

When I got the results today, I immediately thought, of course, I can't NOT give it.  This is his life.  I can save the life of another human being.  It is a little overwhelming and very humbling. 

Now the process begins, and I hope to get through it quickly, since I start pharmacy school on August 29.  Oh, and my son gets married on August 20.  Oh, and also I don't finish this semester until August 4.  I told the transplant people I want August 5.  I hope we can get it all together.

I go down to San Francisco in 2 weeks to have a battery of tests run.  I hope that my friend can get all his tests done in time too.  It is all very exciting, but scary too.