Jody Needs a Kidney

07/08/2025

UPDATE: Thanks to my friend and hero, Mandell, i have had a successful kidney transplant in Houston on 8-5-2025.

01/06/2025

Interesting donation facts:
1. Kidneys and livers can come from living donors.
2. Organs from living donors are more effective than those from cadavers.
3. We only need one kidney to live a healthy life.
4. Even if a donor has preexisting conditions, don't rule yourself out. They can often be overcome, and your kidney can still be viable for a transplant.
5. The transplant centers will run all of the tests on the donor, at no cost to the donor.
6. What they discover can be very enlightening, as many of the tests they run, no one has ever had before. Thus, you can learn about how to improve conditions you never knew you had.
7. Over 100K people await kidney transplants in the US.
8. 13 people die daily waiting for an organ transplant.
9. Every 8 minutes, another person is added to the transplant waiting list.
10. To register as an altruistic donor, go to the transplant center nearest you.
11. To register as an organ donor once you pass away, include your wishes in your will, let your family know AND register online with the state where you live. In Texas, it's www.donatelifetexas.org.
12. Only 1% of people who die are eligible to donate organs, as they must die a "brain death". One person can save 8 lives with organs, and can enhance the lives of 75 or more through tissues, veins, etc.
13. Therefore, you can see how great the need is for living donors.
14. Consider saving a life while you are alive...be a hero!

01/06/2025

Texas Organ Sharing Alliance is a nonprofit that is committed to saving lives through organ donation. This organiztion

01/06/2025

UPDATE: I NOW HAVE A LIVING KIDNEY DONOR!
Thanks to the generosity of my wonderful friend and hero, Alexis Mandell. After over a year of testing at four different transplant centers throughout Texas, Alexis and I have had more blood work, x-rays, CT scans, MRI's, scopes, etc. than most people have in a lifetime. They need to make sure that it is safe for the donor to live with only one kidney. Alexis is a trooper, to say the least.

A "swap" enables the best matches to be transplanted into the recipients. (There 3 pairs of donors/recipients, Alexis' kidney goes to pair 2, pair 2's kidney goes to pair 3 and pair 3's kidney goes to me).

The transplant will not be without complications for me, so it's not over until it's over. It will take place at the end of July at Methodist Hospital in Houston, the same hospital where I was born! Hopefully I can continue living a dialysis-free, productive life.

Thanks to all who considered donating, and those who are keeping up with my journey. It is much appreciated.

Love, Jody

P.S. This is an old photo of us in our favorite place, Las Vegas!

30/03/2025

Filmed in Texas!

https://www.facebook.com/share/1XFAaKQphg/

Stories about an award-winning band & a story on the important work to find transplant donors.

31/12/2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1kU2pNCkkRI -sheet

Many people think that they can't be a kidney donor, but when they visit the transplant center they find out that they really can.Hear more about it in this ...

28/12/2024

Giving a kidney to a stranger? Researchers call it 'extraordinary altruism'

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/12/26/nx-s1-5239894/organ-donor-kidney-liver-lung-altruism?utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=nprnews&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2wyXr70vlKY0YTRUpWE8FGC9DXnkmsHDM9kj-9GwrHnWoBxwX6U7dDBjk_aem__dyWpXjI35Ho3x00F7GT1w

28/12/2024

08/12/2024

The holidays are a time of giving, and you can give back by registering to become an organ donor. Jessica Rudd and Gwen Dunn are here with Texas Organ Sharing A

06/11/2024

St. David's Hospital Registering people to donate