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I donated a kidney to a stranger. It shouldn’t be this difficult for others to give.

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There are people like me who want to become kidney donors. If we want to increase that number, we must ease the burden on transplant donors and recipients and help them navigate the donation process.

By Shmuly Yanklowitz

For many years I debated: Should I be an organ donor?  

As a faith leader who regularly speaks about the value of life, and as a healthy individual with an interest in organ donation, I was genuinely excited about the possibility to save another person.

Nonetheless, it was a very big decision and one I did not take lightly.  Read the full article in USA Today.

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Finding my purpose in this empty nest after my lung transplant

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Who am I now if I’m no longer a nurse, active mom, or needy CF patient?

By Jennifer Bleecher

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines identity as “the distinguishing character or personality of an individual.” Having a genetic, progressive, and life-shortening disease such as cystic fibrosis (CF) can consume a large part of a person’s physical, mental, and emotional state. It can feel that the disease becomes your identity.

CF was a fatal disease in 1971, when I was born. The average life expectancy at the time was 12. My symptoms were mild when I was young, so my mom decided not to share that prognosis with me. Back then, pancreatic enzymes and antibiotics were the only medications available to treat CF. The internet wasn’t born yet, so I had limited access to information about my disease. Read the article in Cystic Fibrosis News Today.

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‘It brought me tears of joy’: Liver transplant gives patient a second chance at life

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UC Davis Health’s new liver transplant program is only such program in California north of San Francisco


(SACRAMENTO) Juan Velasco is enjoying a new chapter of his life in Rio Dell, in Northern California’s Humboldt County.

This past summer, after working 22 years as a water distribution operator for the City of Eureka, Velasco had finally retired. However, within a few weeks he began experiencing intense pain in his abdomen. Soon after, his stomach and legs began to swell with fluid.
Read the full story in UC Davis Health News.

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Madison bagpiper playing again after double lung transplant

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By Abigail Leavins

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – A Madison man can pick up his bagpipes again thanks to a new set of lungs.

Four years ago, Dave Furumoto learned he suffered from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Upon learning the news, the former UW professor fretted about whether he would ever play the traditional Scottish instrument ever again.

Dependent on oxygen tanks to survive, Furumoto made the decision in 2021, around the time of his retirement, to go ahead with a double lung transplant at UW Health. Now, with the surgery a couple of years in the rearview mirror, he is looking forward to renewing his passion for the bagpipes and enjoying traveling again. Check out the full story on WMTV NBC 15.

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Daughter to mom who needed transplant at UI Health: ‘Don’t worry. I got your back’

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Raquel Ramirez shares her name with her daughter, so it was only fitting that one day her daughter would share a part of herself back with her mom.

When Ramirez got sick in 2021 and needed a liver transplant, her daughter, Raquel Regalado, who goes by Rocky, did not hesitate to be a living donor.

“They basically said, you’re in need of a transplant. We’re going to put you on the waiting list, but somebody can be a living donor,” Ramirez said. “She told me to my face: Don’t worry, Mom. I got your back.” Read the full story in UIC Today.

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Medical Debt Is Killing Our Patients

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— Here’s my legislative solution to put an end to this

by Arvind Venkat, MD

As an emergency medicine resident in the early 2000s, I cared for a patient in her early 60s with back pain. Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), approximately 16% of emergency department patients were uninsured. Often their issues were of low acuity, again because they had no other place to see a physician. I assumed that to be the case with this patient, that I would treat her presumably musculoskeletal back pain, and discharge her. However, while treating her, I noticed she struggled to walk and clutched her gown across her chest. It was the clutching that really struck me as unusual. Read more in MedPage Today.

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Three Binghamton alums make a life-saving connection

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Donor, coordinator and surgeon enable stranger to receive a kidney

By Eric Coker

For Arielle Disick ’12, donating a kidney in 2022 wasn’t about courage or charity. It was about simply doing something good.

“You never know how much of an impact that a little bit of kindness can make and what the ripple effects will be,” she says. “If you can do something to help, you should help.”
Read the full story in BingUNews.

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