Hi everyone!

This was a crazy week at my house.  My husband I traveled to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to find out about the hospital’s paired kidney exchange program.  Thank you to everyone who followed along on Facebook.  For those of you who didn’t, I thought I’d give you an update.

My husband, Joe, needs a second kidney transplant since his first transplant in 2004 failed after only four years.  His brother donated his first kidney, and due to the rejection, Joe’s body built up antibodies and is more difficult to match.  He’s been back on dialysis for almost two years now.  And, as you probably know, dialysis is difficult and disruptive to his life.

Since I’m not a match for Joe, I’m in the process of signing up to give a kidney in exchange for one for him.  The way it works is that Johns Hopkins will pair me up with someone who needs a kidney, and my husband will get the best match in exchange.  This past week we met our teams of doctors, surgeons, social workers, and donor coordinators.  I saw the donation team, and Joe met his team.  I felt so comfortable with my team; they were all caring, compassionate and funny.

My husband has battled kidney disease for 10 years now.  He and I have been through so much together—many ups and downs.  Through it all, it has made us closer as a couple and has taught us what is important.

And through his disease, my faith has grown by leaps and bounds.  I feel God’s hand and see His presence in the wonderful angels helping us through this.  The angels have been family members, friends, doctors, nurses, and anonymous people who pray for us.

We don’t have a timeline for having a transplant since the key will be finding that magical match for Joe.  What will happen next is that Joe and I will be approved for the kidney exchange, and our information will be added to a database.  The folks at Johns Hopkins will run the database once a week and call us when/if a match is found.

Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers.  I’ll keep you posted on our progress toward getting Joe a kidney.

Blessings,

Amy