She looked everywhere for a guide on what happens to a donor after the surgery, and came up empty. So when Alyssa Bates decided to give her younger brother one of her kidneys, she had to write the manual herself, one marathon at a time. As her mother put it, “Never when I became a mom and signed that contract, did it say I’d have to put both my kids on the operating table on the same day.” Alyssa’s story is proof that donating an organ does not mean giving up the life you love. Less than a year after surgery, she crossed the Boston Marathon finish line in a shirt that said it all: “My other kidney is at the finish line.”
My mom’s quote about the day, I think, sums it up perfectly, “Never when I became a mom and signed that contract, did it say I’d have to put both my kids on the operating table on the same day.”
~ Allyssa Bates
Confessions of a kidney donor: Allyssa Bates at TEDx BeaconStreet 2013 (YouTube)
Related TED Talks:
TEDx Talks: Take My Kidney…Please
TEDx Talks: What Makes a Person Decide to Donate His Kidney to a Stranger