The Gift of Life

by Nancy B.
My greatest trip starts and ends at the Cleveland Clinic. My kidneys had stopped functioning and I wasn’t a candidate for dialysis. I could not find a matching donor among my friends and family. The wait for a cadaver kidney was 4-10 years. I was told I had 1-3 months left to live. During this time my husband was searching for a way to save me. He found online that he could donate to me by way of a paired kidney exchange wherein he could donate to someone he was compatible with while that person’s compatible donor could donate to me. He did not want me to know in case he was not able to donate, so without my knowledge he began his trips to the Cleveland Clinic for testing to determine if he could donate his kidney. He passed and so began our greatest trip of all. The trip to the Cleveland Clinic that not only saved my life, but the lives of two others who were also in kidney failure through a triple transplant exchange. All the donations and transplants were successful. I’m so thankful
Sandusky, OH