Every kidney transplant recipient lives with the same quiet understanding: the pills never stop. But a new drug called tegoprubart may be about to change that conversation entirely.
Category: Kidney Recipient
Reflections on receiving a kidney transplant. About healing, gratitude, and the journey of living forward.
Support System: My Dad
Through my kidney transplant, my dad stepped in with strength, humor, and a kind of love that moved things forward. This is his part of the story.
Untethered: My First Flight Since Kidney Dialysis
Flying to Charlotte for work sounds ordinary. For someone who spent eighteen months dragging a dialysis machine into hotel rooms and giving it its own seat in the car, it was anything but. This is what traveling light actually looks like.
Beginnings & New Beginnings
A birthday used to be a simple circle on the calendar. Then a kidney transplant gave me a second beginning. This reflection looks at the two days that shaped my life, the gratitude that grew from them, and the gift of waking up to a future I once hoped for but could not see.
Support System: My Mom
Chad reflects on the kind of love that shows up in the small things and ends up carrying everything. A Mother’s Day tribute to a woman whose presence changed a life.
A kidney biopsy for research
A biopsy I didn’t need became a chance to give back. This is the story of how gratitude, research, and unseen generosity began my second chance.
Six Months Post-Kidney Transplant
Half a year with Sidney the kidney: labs, laughter, unexpected energy, and the unfolding gratitude that comes from a stranger’s life‑changing yes.
Easter and my kidney transplant
A personal reflection on Easter, grace, and the life‑altering gift of a kidney transplant. This is the story of two donors, one cross‑match chain, and the kind of love you can never repay. Only receive.
Things I Thought Were Big Deals Before I Needed a Kidney
A look back at the minor frustrations I once treated as some sort of crisis and how kidney failure changed my sense of what truly matters.
Things People Say to Kidney Transplant Recipients
A candid, humorous look at the things people say to kidney transplant recipients and the honest thoughts we keep to ourselves. Equal parts truth, comedy, and lived experience.
Receiving the Gift
A reflection on the courage of receiving. After years of finding joy in giving, I faced the humbling truth of needing a gift I could never earn a kidney from someone I’ve never met. This piece explores grace, surrender, worthiness, and the holiness found in accepting what arrives unasked for, yet perfectly timed.
Thinking about my Kidney Donor
A transplant recipient searches for words worthy of thanking an unknown donor whose gift reshaped his life.
Three Months Post-Kidney Transplant
A three‑month reflection on healing, renewed strength, and the small everyday miracles that mark life after transplant. A story of returning energy, widening freedom, and the steady grace found in each new day.
Things to Have Known Before a Kidney Transplant ~ Jack Fassnacht
This candid reflection from a two‑time kidney transplant recipient pulls back the curtain on the everyday realities that don’t always make it into the medical brochures.
Lifelong Challenges After a Kidney Transplant
Life after a kidney transplant becomes a lifelong classroom where healing, vigilance, and gratitude shape each day and teach me how to live with care and intention.
Movie Quotes That Summed Up My Kidney Journey
This post explores how iconic movie lines unexpectedly echoed the hardest and most hopeful moments of my kidney journey.
Sidney Goes to UNMC
In this imaginative classroom story, Sidney, the transplanted kidney, graduates from the whimsical One Kidney Academy, a place where organs learn resilience, purpose, and the art of supporting a human life.
What I Want Other Kidney Patients to Know
A gentle, hope-filled reflection for anyone living with kidney disease, dialysis, or the long wait for a transplant. These words offer comfort, courage, and the reminder that you are not walking this road alone.
Waiting for a Kidney Donor
This is the story of how waiting for a kidney donor reshaped me from the inside out. Through dialysis, uncertainty, and the stretches of hope, I discovered strength, faith, and a new way of receiving life.
This Time Last Year…
A reflective New Year’s look at a year shaped by healing, generosity, and the life‑changing gift of a kidney transplant, honoring both Jeff and the donor who made a second chance possible.