Asking for a kidney is the hardest thing that I’ve ever done.
We are born with two kidneys. We only need one to live a long, full, and healthy life. I have kidney disease and am currently on dialysis. I have no viable family donors. I am not asking you for your kidney but for you to share my story with others in the hope of finding a donor.
Why a Living Donor?
A kidney from a living donor works better and lasts longer than a kidney from a deceased donor. The wait for a deceased donor could be 8 years and that is not ideal for someone who is already on dialysis. Dialysis is physically and emotionally debilitating and takes a lot of time.
If I can find that one person willing to donate a kidney on my behalf, my wait time will be reduced from years to months. A living donor will allow me to live and grow old with the love of my life, and to be fully involved in our three children’s lives as they grow up.
To get more information without obligation simply fill out this form on my behalf (Joseph Shamieh, 11/13/1973): My link is: www.ucdonor.org
Who is Joseph?
I was born and educated in San Francisco, where I attended Serra High School and earned my BA in Business Administration at St. Mary’s College. I met my beloved and devoted wife, Natalie, while vacationing in New York City. Our home is now in the Bay Area and we have three beautiful children, Charles, Sara, and James.
I am a successful Real Estate Agent, but this disease and the side effects has curtailed my ability to work. I am so deeply grateful to my wife for making sure that our family is taken care of.
I am very committed to my family and have always been very active in our children’s lives. Attending and supporting them in their daily activities brings me great joy and it is now getting more difficult to do with my dialysis schedule. On the several times per week I must leave them to go for dialysis, the children are always frightened and upset. I am thankful for my family and their help during this time and look forward to the day when I can be a fully active participant in their lives again.
Family Is Everything To Me.
Just by sharing my story you will help to save my life.
Even if you don't want to be or cannot be a kidney donor, you probably know someone who might be interested. You can help me by sharing my story on social media and by email.
Grace Redman Living Kidney Donor
View Grace Redman's video:
Grace would love to speak to you about her positive experience as a kidney donor. You can contact her directly at grace@graceredman.com.
Kidney Donation Basics
A kidney transplant will restore my health and will allow me to live a normal life again. A kidney transplant will enable me to live a long healthy life and continue helping others. Most people have two healthy kidneys but can live a normal active life with only one. For that reason, kidney transplants have become routine in saving lives of people with kidney disease. Kidney donors typically spend two days in the hospital and soon resume normal activities.
About Kidney Donation
You do not need to be a match to donate a kidney for me. In fact, a direct donation likely would not be an optimal match for me. But, if you are healthy and eligible to donate, you could donate a kidney that would go to another person for whom you are a better match while giving me a “voucher” for a living kidney to be donated by someone else whose kidney would be a better match me (like a trade that benefits two or more kidney patients – each patient would receive a more optimally matched kidney). The National Kidney Registry has facilitated more than 5,000 such matching transplants.
Your voucher would be activated upon your donation. I would be prioritized to receive a living kidney in an upcoming transplant chain, typically within twelve weeks after your donation.
And, since each voucher donor starts a unique “kidney transplant chain,” I would receive a well-matched kidney, and your kidney would initiate a linked chain of compatible best-matching kidney transplants enabling two or three additional kidney patients to receive their own kidney transplants. You can read more about voucher donation here: https://www.kidneyregistry.org/for-centers/voucher-program/
About Costs
UCSF is a National Kidney Registry Hospital. Reasonable cost reimbursement is legal. Title III of The National Organ Transplant Act, 1984, Pub. L. 998-507, allows for reasonable payments associated with the removal, transportation, implantation, processing, preservation, quality control, and storage of human organs as well as the expenses of travel, housing, and lost wages incurred by the donor of a human organ in connection with the donation of that organ. While reimbursement of expenses is legal, payment for the acquisition of an organ is not. In addition, the kidney recipient’s medical insurance usually covers the donor’s and the recipient’s costs of medical care and hospitalization.Donors donating through the National Kidney Registry as Non-Directed Donors receive Donor Shield Protections. To learn about Donor Shield Protections please watch: https://youtu.be/MIXMp4PymMI and read https://www.donor-shield.org/ .
The National Kidney Registry (NKR) offers Donor Shield protections to all donors who participate in an NKR swap or donate at a Donor Shield Center. Those protections include:1. Lost Wage Reimbursement2. Travel and Lodging Reimbursement3. Donation Life Insurance4. Donation Disability Insurance5. Legal Representation6. Coverage for Uncovered Complications7. Reimbursement for Travel, Lodging and Lost Wages for Uncovered Complications8. Living Donor Kidney Prioritization if they ever need a kidney themselves.See https://www.kidneyregistry.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/donor_shield_trifold_2021-07-06_WEB.pdfRead about Financial and Insurance Issues at https://www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors/financial-insurance-issues.
