September 2018
Living Kidney Donors Network

LKDN is a member of the Coalition to Promote Living Kidney Donation. The Coalition is a group of organizations that's joined in a common cause to increase living kidney donation. Josh Morrison, a non-directed kidney donor and representative of the Coalition recently met with White House officials to discuss living organ donation policies. Along with Josh was Alfred Roth, who received the Nobel Prize in Economics for the work he did in developing models for paired exchanges. Mr. Roth's work revolutionized kidney transplants.

The individuals in the meeting discussed several major organ donation reforms, including having the federal government pay all kidney donor lost wages and other expenses as well as developing a health insurance package for kidney donors. 

These White House officials have taken the first step towards implementing these policies, but much more work needs to be done.

THIS IS WHERE YOUR HELP IS NEEDED. These policies will require bipartisan legislative support to ensure that they are adopted as law in next year's budget. We need to do an outreach campaign over the next several months to legislators on both sides of the aisle to ask for their support.

The Coalition is putting together a letter that you could use to reach out to your legislators. If you would like to support the Coalition please click here. To read a DRAFT of a letter to your representative click here.

You will be contacted as soon as additional information is available.

Upcoming LKDN Workshops

• Boston, MA Monday September 24th - Tufts Medical Center. 1:00 3:30 Click here for more information
• Orange County, CA Saturday October 6th 10: - 12:30 Click here for Location and directions.
• Chicago Saturday October 20th 10:00 - 12:30 at Skokie Hospital, Abramson Conference Rm 1st Floor 9600 Gross Point Rd. Skokie, IL For more information click here.

Author states: "Most acts of altruism are reactive—that is, we do them when we witness other people’s suffering or misfortune first hand, or through the media." What motivated you to be a kidney donor? Please send your response to: harvey@LKDN.org Click here to read the article.

Car and lawn signs need to be part of your Kidney Kampaign because they are effective. Click here to read how one person used signs.

The two major reasons the number of deceased donor transplants is increasing are, deaths from drug overdoses and using organs from individuals that tested positive for hepatitis C. To read this article click here.

Yes, I'm tooting my horn a bit with this one, something I'm told I need to do more often. Local journalist wrote about me and the work I do for LKDN. Click here to read the story.

Cardiovascular risks increase for those with end stage renal disease. (ESRD) Study shows the risks are different based upon the reason for your kidney failure. Diabetics have the highest risk. To read this story click here.