Got a kidney to spare?

So this post will be a little different than normal.  Nothing to rant about, no cute stories of the boys, not about the rather bizarre things that (sometimes) go through my head.  No, today's post will be on my friend Julie.

My friend Julie is an amazingly strong person.  She is a devoted wife, a loving mother of a young man (who is just like Declan), and a volunteer in our community.  But what makes Julie someone so strong and someone I truly admire is that, in addition to all that, she is also in desperate need of a kidney transplant.

Julie is diabetic and one of the many unfortunate ones who have ended up with renal failure.  She is now in end stage renal failure and has been on dialysis for over a year.  She has also been on the transplant list for over a year.

Julie is one of the few that does her own dialysis at home.  We live a couple of hours away from the nearest dialysis centre which means that most people up here would have to rent a place down there or spend a lot in gas money to go and get dialysis the number of times a week that Julie does it (which is, I think, five nights a week, for much of the night).  Julie went and stayed for awhile in the city where this would be done to take the specific nursing course that would teach her how to perform her dialysis properly so that she could stay him, in her community, where her support system is.

In all this, in hoping and praying for a kidney for herself, Julie has also become an advocate for organ donation, reminding people to sign their donor cards and tell their families.  She has also now set up a Facebook group called "I need a kidney" where she hasn't created the group specifically for herself (but all of us hope it does find her one), but for all those people who need a kidney (or other organ donation).  You can find it here: I Need A Kidney.

So here's the thing - have you signed your donor card? If not, why not?  And if you say "well, it just seems weird" or (one I've heard) "it's not Islamic" (honestly, I've yet to see proof of why not) then I'd like you to consider this - would you accept an organ transplant were you in Julie's shoes? Now, my organ donor card is signed, but I could not give Julie one of my kidney's because I'm diabetic.  But I do have strong opinions on this.  If you would receive an organ donation, then you also need to be willing to donate your own organs upon your death.  If you would refuse to donate your organs then you shouldn't be accepting an organ donation no matter how sick you are.  If you have a medical condition that doesn't allow it, then that's another story.  But those that would be willing to take, need to be willing to give.  So that's my one rant for this post.

Sign your driver's license.  If you're in a place like Ontario where it's not necessarily done on the back of your license anymore but done when you fill out your license form, check the box.  You can save a life, you can change many lives because of that one life you can save.