The skyscrapers Seemed to rise especially high On the evening I first found her Kissing passion into the sky As if it were their queen Worshipped And drowned In pure adoration
Stars dappled the sky as night continued Like silvery kisses scattered about All through the night No match for the light In her amber eyes As they lit up with that same passion the stars did But were more intense
The city came to life In the sticky Summer air Laughter and chit chat echoed through the streets As people made their way to restaurants and clubs and bars and bowling alleys And traffic sped throughout the streets And the city lights twinkled Like lost songs Playing among the stars
I felt each symphony Deep into my bones
Finding her felt like home There was a sense of impending exulansis seeping into my skin As I watched her move like the wind And become the night Knowing then I would forever Be marked By a thing that escapes words Leaving only traces Of something unidentifiable Traveling up my spine And lingering on my supple flesh Seeping into the pores and tissue Penetrating bone Becoming a permanent part of me No less essential than my very dna
An echo of an ethereal kind of beauty Not of this dimension Perfumes all of my nights As my mind drifts back To that moment I laid eyes on her Taking in every curve of her body Imagining the softness of her skin Beneath my fingertips
Devouring her intoxicating beauty With the kind of primitive greed Of someone trapped in a desert For too long, dying of thirst and suddenly finding a creek of sapphire blue or emerald green, glistening in the dark of night
And there are hints of that sense of belonging Still dwelling in a place in me I can’t recognize Along with that aching burn of rejection Sinking deeper and deeper into the belly Into a seemingly endless abyss of suffocating sorrow
Suddenly I blinked And she was lost In that one infinitesimal moment Ripped out of my arms By the rapacious hands of reality As my seemingly perpetual daydream came to an end And I woke up into the harshness Of what is true Reverie shattered by a truth I was never ready or willing to accept A truth that burns in me with the passion of a thousand suns in the middle of an August afternoon In the Northern Hemisphere
Now I stand On a sticky Summer night That takes me back To that day I found her When the skyscrapers seemed A tad taller, and the stars shone a bit brighter
Perfumed in that inexplicable beauty That still leaves traces Throughout my existence And I taste the silvery Kiss of the stars As I catch them in my eyes
Hints of wonder In the midst of a deep longing For a thing that existed Only in my fantasies But was the realest thing I have ever known
My story was selected to be shared on “Share Your Wishes,” a UK based organ donation org. March is Kidney Month, and they were sharing one kidney transplant/donation story a day, all month long.
I’m honored that mine was chosen! 💚💙
Kidney Month is over, but it’s still Donate Life Month! So, I’m sharing here. It’s late but still relevant!
“Kim shares her story in the hope that it will encourage even just one person to consider becoming a living organ donor, and register as a donor too, as both are equally important and very desperately needed.“
“On 16th January 2024, at 37 years old, I donated one of my kidneys to a stranger. It was a lifelong dream of mine since I read a true story, almost two decades earlier, about a man who donated one of his kidneys to an anonymous stranger. I thought it was the most beautiful thing, someone giving a literal piece of himself to save another struggling human.
It deeply resonated with me. I always had the gift of perfect health and wanted someone else to have even just a little bit of what I have. It made perfect sense, if I have more than enough of something, to give some to someone who doesn’t have enough. As soon as I read that story, I knew it would be me one day giving my kidney to a person in need. Nearly, twenty years later, it was! That beautiful story stayed with me for all those years until I finally got around to making that decision. It was a very easy decision for me to make once all my life circumstances aligned for it to all work out. There was never any hesitation or reconsidering. It was my calling.
I knew that the potential benefits to a kidney recipient outweighed any of the rare potential risks to myself and that even if I did experience a complication at some point, at least it would be because I tried to help someone. I could never regret it.
I knew that maybe I would experience a rare complication, but someone in need of a new kidney did not have the luxury of “maybe” that I had. Someone else was already suffering complications of an illness that I could potentially help.Taking on some of someone else’s pain for a while, to potentially give that person a whole life, was more than worth it.
I did not care who received my kidney. It was a gift given out of love for my fellow human and sentient being. My only hope was to relieve a little bit of the suffering in the world. The less suffering, the better for the whole world.
In the U.S., we have The National Kidney Registry. Through the Registry, we can donate our kidney to an anonymous stranger they choose for us and receive a kidney voucher to give to anyone in the country we choose, usually a friend or family member. That person usually gets a new kidney soon after the donor’s surgery, often in a matter of months.
In my case, I did not know anyone who needed a new kidney, so I decided to look for another stranger to give the voucher to. I just happened to hear about a man in my location who was in urgent need of a new kidney. I looked up his family on social media and offered the kidney voucher, or my actual kidney, if we happened to be a match. No recipient was chosen for me yet.
Coincidentally, we turned out to be a match and only lived fifteen minutes apart! It turned out he wasn’t cleared for transplant yet, though, and still had more work to be done before he could have a transplant.
So, I continued with non-directed donation and gave my kidney to whoever in the Registry could use it. That person’s transplant was an immediate success! I have no contact with him and no information about him other than that he’s a 50 something year old man. I hope that one day we can meet or exchange a letter!
A year after my non-directed kidney donation, the man I gave the kidney voucher to, Greg, received his new kidney through my donation to the anonymous stranger. His transplant was also a success, and he is doing amazing! He felt his new kidney working instantly. He got his whole life back after being so sick for years on dialysis. He is able to work again, eat his favorite foods, go out with friends, volunteer for organ donation, and work on his dream of becoming a dialysis tech to help others in the position he was once in.
We have become great friends and meet up for breakfast and do organ donation volunteer work and attend organ donation events together. We love to bring awareness to living donation and organ donation in general.
I’m thankful that my one donation saved two lives. I think of both of my recipients as my kidney brothers.
My evaluation process to see if I was physically & emotionally healthy enough to donate my kidney, took six months. I loved every second of it. My donation surgery was flawless. I had a smooth & quick recovery. Very little pain and no fatigue. I did not even need Tylenol! No pain meds at all. I was out of work for recovery for three months only because my job is very physical, but I felt like my usual self after only two weeks!
Two years after my kidney donation, I am just as healthy as with two kidneys! I have a medical test once a year to check my kidney function. My recent results showed that my kidney is functioning as well as it possibly could. I have just as much energy and walk 10+ hours a day. I’m a pet nanny/dogwalker for work. I would never know I had surgery or only have one kidney. Nothing at all changed, physically. My scars have (unfortunately! I love them!) faded. I have one lifelong restriction with one kidney, and that is NSAIDS/Natural vitamin supplements. I’m recommended to avoid those.
I have become an organ donor ambassador with The Gift of Life Program where I live, doing volunteer work to bring awareness to organ donation. Organ donation is a beautiful thing that is so life-affirming. So many people, the donors (living and deceased, alike), the donor families, the healthcare workers, and everyone who advocates for the recipients, come together and go to great lengths to save one life.
Donating my kidney expanded my life perspective and showed me just how powerful each of our lives are. Any choice we make, good or bad, has a boundless & unfathomable ripple effect and will change the world in some way.
Anything my kidney recipient/s go on to do in life is something that never would have happened if I did not donate my kidney. They’ll go on to touch more lives, develop relationships, do work and acts of kindness. Even way into the distant future, when my recipients and me are no longer here, the impact of my kidney donation could still be existing.
This goes for any choice we make in life. It will have an impact we can’t foresee and may never know. I never realized this to this extent until I gave my kidney to save a stranger’s life. It’s the most enlightening thing!
Donating my kidney is the best thing I ever did. The sense of relevance and joy and importance never fade, no matter how much time goes by.
I love being part of the whole organ donation family and feel a sense of kinship with all associated with organ donation in any way.
I truly, inadvertently, gave the absolute best gift to myself when I gave the gift of life to someone else. At the end of this life, whenever it may be, this one decision alone makes my whole life a success.
I would make the same decision again & again. I see my experience with the perspective of this amazing thing I got to experience more than look at this amazing thing I did for someone else. It’s better than I ever imagined it would be.
My kidney donation has given me this whole family, a new friend, an expanded life perspective, and most of all, the gift of seeing someone’s whole life change, dramatically, for the best.
Even though it wasn’t my intention or expectation, my experience with kidney donation truly has given me just as much as it has given those who received the gift of life out of it. It has become an essential part of my identity.
In the USA there are over 100,000 people waiting for a life-saving organ, over 90,000 of them are waiting for a new kidney. A healthy person with two kidneys can get one of them off that waiting list and off of dialysis with little to no cost to us.
If I could, I would give a kidney to every person in need! 💚”
Please #ShareYourWishes about your #organdonation decisions with your loved ones, say #YesIDonate and register your decisionNHS Organ Donationtion
Keep smilin’, keep shinin’ Knowing you can always count on me For sure That’s what friends are for For good times and bad times I’ll be on your side forevermore That’s what friends are for
Yesterday, my kidney recipient, Greg, & me attended the Donor Dash, the walk to honor organ donors and their families, and bring awareness to organ donation. We live only fifteen minutes apart and meet up for coffee, walks, breakfast, events, Phillies games…We spent Christmas Eve together and plan to spend Thanksgiving together this year!
The 3k walk takes place every April. It’s hosted by the Gift of Life Program, here in Philadelphia. I’m a trained volunteer organ donor ambassador with the organization. April is National Donate Life Month. 100,000+ people are in need of a new organ, 90,000+ of those, are waiting for a kidney. Every year, we walk together, to honor the donors, celebrate the recipients, and bring hope to those still waiting.
This is me, yesterday, thinking I was going on the walk like this 😆 Turns out, it was freezing cold! I had to put a sweater on. Thankfully, it wasn’t raining.
In less than one week, I’ll be turning 40 years old! Going into middle age fit & healthy. Middle age looks good on me lol My friend (mentioned above) and me are going out for breakfast!
A Dose of Inspiration 