It's the Most Wonderful Gift of the Year

It happens every year about this time. Like presents.

Sometimes it's an average Joe or Joanne, unknown to everyone except family and friends, who strolls into a hospital, walks up to the information desk and declares they want to donate one of their kidneys.

They don't necessarily care who it goes to. They just saw a story on the news, or know somebody with renal failure, or just became overpowered with the Christmas spirit. They want to make a difference in someone's life, to enhance the quality of somebody else's time on this planet. It's called "living non-directed donation."

This year it happened in (among other places, we pray) Illinois. According to the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois website, an anonymous donor stepped forward this month whose blood and tissue types were compatible with a 16-year-old teenager named Jonathan Guitron. And shortly thereafter, the Guitrons received the gift every family struggling with kidney failure longs to receive:

The Call.

"We were definitely not expecting to get it," says his mother Nicki, referring to the call from the hospital or transplant center announcing that a matching organ has been located. "But we're beyond grateful."

So this year on Christmas Day, instead of spending the day combining their joy with undercurrents of concern and fear for Jonathan's health, the Guitron family will be at the hospital helping him get prepped for surgery. If all goes according to plan, he and his donor will undergo simultaneous surgeries the morning of Dec. 26th, proving the adage that it's more blessed to give than to receive.

The donor will give, and Jonathan will be more than delighted to receive.

I can say from personal experience that recovery from transplant surgery is slow and excruciatingly painful, and there are some medications you will take every day for the rest of your life. But when the healing is complete, life is infinitely better than anything one can imagine while on dialysis.

Now, not everyone reading this may be willing or able to rush to the nearest hospital tomorrow and scream, "Take my kidney! Please!" That's a tremendous decision. But here's something you could do:

Sometime today, after all the presents have been opened and cooed over and your closest family members are gathered 'round, take a few minutes to talk about organ donation. Let them know you wish to be a donor after you've passed so there can be no mistaking your wishes, and ask if they've thought about what their intentions are.

And check your driver's license. Many states have some sort of symbol on their licenses indicating the driver wishes to be a donor. In Illinois, where I live, it's a small red outline of the state. In other states it can be a heart, a star, or even simply the words "Organ Donor." I've found that many people are organ donors and either forgot or didn't realize they had made the commitment.

Please, make this the merriest, jolliest, happiest Christmas ever. I can bet the Guitrons will.

Merry Kidneymas.