Danforth Fleak Needs A Kidney!

PKD is a genetic disease inherited from your parents. I know that my Mother and brother both had the same condition, but it can sometimes go undetected for a person's entire life, so we are not sure which of my grandparents carried it. Click below for more information about PKD

Your kidneys provide 10 times the function your body needs. I am currently at 7% kidney function and am having only mild symptoms. While donating a kidney does reduce the natural redundancy (two is better than one), adults are capable of living full, healthy lives with only one kidney. The one kidney will still provide 5 times the function your body needs.

The main priority for kidney donation is to make sure that the donor is healthy. Some things that will typically disqualify you immediately are any kidney conditions, blood clotting issues, high blood pressure, smoking, drug or alcohol abuse, diabetes or pre-diabetes and cancer. For more general information about being a kidney donor, click the link below

As mentioned, my blood type is O negative, which is the least compatible for being a kidney recipient - I can only receive a kidney of O blood type. However, the transplant program that I am enrolled in (Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis) is a part of the National Kidney Registry. 

The NKR allows you to donate to a person that CAN accept your kidney and will in turn provide me with a matching kidney from another donor in the program. This can be even more amazing of a gift, since this kind of matching donation can often trigger multiple transplants. For example - Person A's donor to Person B, Person B's donor to Person C, and Person C's donor to me! For more information on the National Kidney Registry see the link below.

My aunt Anne donated to my Mother back in 1995, and her amazing gift allowed my Mother to live for another 20 years without suffering through constant dialysis. If you are considering donation, Anne would be more than happy to have a conversation with you to share her experience as a donor. Just click CONTACT FLEAK at the top of the page or below this section to let me know. I will arrange for you to speak with her at your convenience.

The most immediate risks are obviously from the surgery itself. The long term risk of kidney failure is less than 1%. In addition, if you donate and every suffer from kidney failure, you are immediately placed at the top of the transplant list for receiving your own donor kidney.

Even despite the obvious benefit to me, I very much understand what a commitment kidney donation is having watched the process twice with my Mother and brother. If you decide, at any time, that you just aren't comfortable, I will completely understand. I am immensely grateful to anyone even for considering donation. If you want more information or have questions not answered here, don't hesitate to contact me. There is absolutely no commitment on your part just to find out more.

If you can't donate directly, the next best thing is to SHARE THIS SITE LINK! Many living donations come from friends/family/acquaintances, but there are people out there who have had a person close to them impacted by kidney failure. Many times these people are more comfortable with the idea of donating from having seen the process with someone they know. Please feel free to share this link in any way and on any platform!

This might sound like a funny question, but I have heard it quite a lot! 90% of alcohol is filtered by your liver, while only 2-5% is excreted through the kidneys as urine. If you currently are dealing with alcohol abuse issues, this could disqualify you. However, past alcohol use should not be a reason for disqualification.