Before I donated my kidney to a complete stranger, I’d seen for myself the huge impact that kidney disease can have on a person’s life. My friend Dawn was on the transplant waiting list; for years, her house was filled with medical equipment and she regularly went into hospital for dialysis.
Sadly, in 2004, Dawn passed away. She was 45, an age when she should have been looking forward to the rest of her life – but she didn’t get to see those years. It was only afterwards that it occurred to me: why hadn’t I offered Dawn one of my kidneys?
