Kidney Donation

Dear Family and Friends,
I just wanted to let you all know what’s going on with me. There have been a lot of questions and I wanted to share with everyone the details. My mother in law, Debbie, is in bad shape. She has had only one kidney since before Brian was born. She now has what’s called Cystic Kidney Disease, which means her only kidney is failing. Currently it only functions at 8% of what it should be. On January 28th I will be joining her in surgery to donate my left kidney.
We have known for quite some time that she would need to get a kidney transplant. Upon hearing the news, and since, I have felt that the person who would be the donor would be me. Debbie was not going to let me apply to be the donor. While there were many people who volunteered and were tested, none was found to be a viable donor for her. Finally, after months and months of searching and testing, she had to be put on dialysis. She has been going 3 times a week, 2 hours at a time, for the past six months (approx). So, I finally got them to send me the paperwork. I’ve been through the testing and have been found to be about as genetically perfect a match as they could find for Debbie.
Again, the surgery is going to be January 28th. We will be in California for 3 weeks. 3-5 days will be spent in the hospital. For 6 weeks after the surgery, I will be required to take it easy…lifting nothing heavier than a gallon of milk. I’m not spending 3 weeks away from my children, so they are coming with us. We’ve had family and friends offer to help with the kids while out there and here at home. In fact, Maggie (my sister) and Chelsy (Brian’s sister) will be coming out as well. We gladly accept any and all help with the children as Brian will still have to work (started a new job last week). He’ll be with me the whole time, and of course I will be his priority.
I want everyone to know that I chose to do this. NOBODY (not Brian, and certainly not his parents) pressured me to do this. As I have prayed and fasted, I have grown more and more comfortable in this decision. I am not nervous about the surgery at all. It will be lathroscopic surgery, performed in a hospital in San Francisco that does 300 of these every year. They have a perfect record pertaining to the health of the donors after surgery. So I am comfortable and at peace with the decision. I only worry that Ellie and Trevor are taken care of while Brian is so focused on helping me. So again, we are grateful for the offers of help, and any more that come.
My mother in law is one of the most amazing women I’ve ever known, and I’m excited and humbled to be able to serve her in this way. Hopefully, this will insure that my kids get to have their wonderful grandmother around for many more years!
I love you all,
Emily