To you, the reader: Reading through this Living Kidney Donor & Recipient Blog involves spending some time learning about Jeff’s donor journey and/or my kidney recipient journey. I wanted to post something for you to read – if you only have time to read one of my posts, and maybe (just maybe?) you’ll come back and read more.
This post is a culmination; a bird’s-eye view of some of my posts’ main themes.
Some of life’s chapters are penned with shaky hands. They are the hardcover pages inked with fear, uncertainty, and prayers. My kidney transplant journey was one of those chapters in my book. This particular journey has been a chapter of nervous waiting, of endless wondering, of learning to trust when the road ahead seemed blanketed with fog‑covered footsteps.
But this chapter in my story also includes grace, resilience, and hope.
Before the Transplant: The Low Valley
Life before the kidney transplant was a low valley that seemed to stretch with endless waiting and wondering. Month after month were comprised of poor lab results, dialysis demands, extreme exhaustion, and doctor appointments. I remember the white-noise hum of the dialysis machine beside me every night, a “chain” that beeped loudly, reminding me I was weary and fragile and I was gradually getting worse.
Fatigue was my constant companion. Plans were postponed, while some dreams were deemed beyond my reach.
Medical problems, such as kidney disease (and even diabetes) had a way of exhausting my world, making even the simplest tasks feel challenging. Dealing with both kidney issues and being diabetic at the same time compounded everything.
Even in that low valley, I discovered a new strength. Resilience wasn’t loud or dramatic. But a decision to rise each morning, to endure one more dialysis treatment, to believe tomorrow might hold a gift of a kidney donor despite a three-year waitlist. So, I couldn’t see or fathom it happening soon enough. But I had faith in the unseen, in the unknown future; a trust in which God was and is still writing my story.
Answered Prayers
After months of prayer and sharing my need for a living donor, along with others, September 21, 2025, became the day my long-awaited hope turned into reality. Just hours after submitting a prayer request at church for a living donor, my friend Jeff knocked on my door and revealed he was a match and he held news of even a possible cross-match involving another donor and recipient (who ended up being better matches). So, not only did I have one kidney, but two potential kidney donors. It felt like a miraculous answer, not only to my prayers but to the countless prayers lifted by family, friends, other advocates, and people I didn’t even know who had carried me through this unwanted chapter.
The Transplant: The Greatest Gift
The day of the kidney transplant came on October 22nd, only a month after finding out about a living donor. I walked into the hospital carrying not only my own hopes but I was about to receive the immeasurable gift of another person’s generosity. I couldn’t believe there was such selfless generosity from a living donor, let alone from someone hadn’t even met. Their kidney is more than just an organ, but an extended lifeline for me. Their compassion became tangible and was made real that day. And a reminder: we will be forever bonded.
In the hours before surgery, fear and peace mingled. A fear of the unknown and what-ifs. Peace in knowing I reached this moment after waiting through knowing I had kidney issues and a year and a half of dialysis. And peace being surrounded by surgical skilled hands that had already performed some 180 kidney transplants this year. When I woke after surgery, my world was new. My body, once full of toxins from failing kidneys, now felt lighter.
Later that night, with parents, doctors, and nurses gone, I was alone in hospital room #5891. That’s when the tears came. Tears of relief. Tears filled with gratitude. Tears of awe at the medical miracle that had happened that very morning.
After the Transplant: Rediscovering Life
My transplant recovery wasn’t without its own set of challenges. There are many medications to take, there was pain to tolerate, and following all the doctor’s orders reminded me this gift came with an immense responsibility.
Joy seeped back into my days. I can walk without taking a break. I can go a day without feeling like I need a nap or two. I can dream and even pursue those dreams without illness looming over me, or without blaming exhaustion – again.
The simple things I put on hold became normal again, such as drinking water without restrictions. I can plan a trip without dialysis dictating the schedule, causing headaches, and messing with planning logistics.
These are all moments stitching a new life together, and doing so in real time.
Gratitude Became My Compass
I have immense gratitude for my donor I have yet to meet and my cross-match donor, Jeff, whose selflessness helped me get my life back. And getting that life back before my kidneys and quality of life became worse. For my parents, my sister, my extended family and friends who carried me through the tough days. For the medical team, whose experience, skill, and compassion removed the first two letters from the word “impossible.” And for myself, for the resilience which kept me moving forward when giving up seemed so much easier.
Life Lessons Learned
This journey taught me resilience rises from weakness, gratitude transforms ordinary days into extraordinary blessings, and hope is not a fragile wish but a force.
Resilience carried me through the low valley.
Gratitude opened my eyes to the beauty of mercy.
Hope lit the path when all I could think about was my list of fears.
A New Hope
To those waiting for a transplant, caregivers walking alongside their loved ones, and to anyone facing the weight of any type of illness, hear this: “You are not alone.” The journey is hard, yes, but filled with moments of beauty and grace. Illness may shape us, but it should never define us. The resilience we discover, the gratitude we cultivate, and the hope we carry should be what define us.
My kidney transplant isn’t the end of my story, but the beginning of a chapter penned by a calmer hand. A story of second chances, of renewed strength, of life lived with greater purpose.
As I reflect on this journey, I think of the words of the psalmist, David: “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helps me” (from Psalm 28:7). These words remind me that even in weakness, is strength.
Even in uncertainty, trust and faith are near.
Want to read more about our journey?
View the blog’s Table of Contents
View Jeff’s blog posts and Journal entries
Related Posts:
Life After My Kidney Transplant
Marking Six Weeks of Transplant Recovery