My Kidney Donation Story: Amy Plourde

My sister was a direct kidney donor to someone she knew. I was with her in the hospital the day after her surgery and she mentioned she wanted to start a “one kidney club.” I wanted to support her, even though part of me was skeptical about this whole “one kidney” idea. I volunteered to set up a Facebook page called @1KidneyClub to educate people about living kidney donation.

After about a year of finding and sharing content for our “club,” I started to wonder if maybe I should share my spare and legitimately join. I had learned so much about donation, including the risks, the amazing way a donation can change the life of a transplant recipient, and the lack of major life changes for donors, so I registered with the National Kidney Registry as a “non-directed donor” and quietly started the testing process.

Since I was not 100% sure I wanted to be a donor, I took about a year to complete all my testing. During that time, I experienced many synchronicities that started to make me feel more confident that donating a kidney was something I would do, if approved. Giving a kidney to a stranger is not something everyone is compelled to do, and it wasn’t even something people around me thought was a particularly good idea.
Lots of people wanted to know why I would give a kidney to a complete stranger. What I learned in my research and during my testing was that the question I needed to answer was: why would I not? If I was determined to be healthy enough to live with one kidney, why would I keep that spare kidney when giving it to someone else could exponentially improve their life? One donor friend used this analogy: “I am walking around with two life jackets, and I only need one. I saw someone else drowning, so I gave them the spare.”

When I woke up from my surgery, I felt like something magical had happened to me (my husband said it was the propofol!). I immediately wanted to tell everyone about living kidney donation.

I had never had surgery before, so I didn’t know what to expect. The first couple days, I walked slowly and for short distances to help alleviate the extra air that had accumulated in my abdomen. I also tried to figure out how to maneuver without using my core too much. I took Tylenol at regular intervals and used the giant lidocaine patches the transplant center gave me to help manage the pain of the abdominal incisions.

My appetite slowly came back, and things got much easier after two weeks. My normal routines and activity level resumed about three months post-donation.

Donating a kidney to a stranger has changed my life in so many amazing and absolutely unexpected ways! First, I have truly discovered the joy of giving in a way I don’t think anyone can until they have given something to someone who could never repay them.

Donating a kidney to a stranger has changed my life in so many amazing and absolutely unexpected ways!
— Amy Plourde

Second, I have met the most amazing people. I never in a million years expected to find new friends by giving away a kidney. As a mentor with the National Kidney Donor Organization, I have met other donors and helped them navigate their own donation journeys. I’ve also met people by attending social and volunteer events to raise awareness about living kidney donation. Lastly, I am so energized by my experience as a donor and eager to advocate for living donation that I reach out to people who need kidneys and offer to talk to anyone they know who might have questions about donation for them.

I joke that in the movie The Sixth Sense, Haley Joel Osment saw dead people, and ever since sharing my spare kidney, I see spare kidneys!! While it can be an awkward moment at a cocktail party, my goal is to find more spare kidneys!