September 2, 2004

Donor Instructions

Now that I've been approved for transplant, the donor testing process will begin.

The process works as follows:

  1. All potential donors will fill out a questionnaire, which screens candidates for diabetes, and other medical issues which could complicate transplant.
  2. Then, five of the most promising donors from the candidate pool are selected for compatibiilty testing.
  3. The transplant coordinator will mail a set of tubes to each of the five donors (unless they are local to Houston and just want to go into Methodist hospital).
  4. The donors have blood drawn into the tubes in order to determine their blood and six tissue types. The blood is mailed to Houston.
  5. If a good match is found, the matching donor will be flown to Houston to undergo a day of testing to determine the health of the candidate kidneys and the overall health of the candidate.
  6. The Methodist Hospital Transplant Committee evaluates the donor.
  7. If committe accepts the donor, the very last step is to have a bilateral renal arteriogram. This can be done by your local hospital and will determine which kidney they will take. Note: Laproscopic Nephrectomy is an option for some patients - it cuts the recovery time in half for most patients
  8. The transplant surgery is scheduled for Methodist Hospital in Houston.
  9. Recovery time is conventional six weeks for the donor - full recovery. Most people return to work in 1-2 weeks, after a hospital stay of 5-7 days. No medications are required after leaving the hospital.
  10. NOTE: If no appropriate donor is found in the first five, the process is repeated with the next five.
The donor does not have to have insurance. The transplant center pays for all the evaluations.

If you are interested in being a donor:

Being a donor is not trivial. It is major surgery and the removal of an organ. I know that a lot of you reading this have said, "No question, I want to donate." But, I would ask you to please take a moment, and before you decide, discuss this with your spouse, family, loved ones. If you're the praying type, it's probably worth talking to God about. But make sure that this is the right choice for you.

  1. Read the donor information manual
  2. Call me (512.422.5271) or email me (bjr@bryanjrollins.com). I will probably try and talk you out of it, and then thank you profusely.
  3. Please download this form (if you can't download it, I will email it to you), fill it out, and fax it to Elizabeth Martin at 713-793-1335.
  4. I would also recommend that you call Elizabeth Martin at 713.441.5485 to confirm that she received the fax.
Note: My blood type is A+. In order to match, you must be either A or O (can be positive or negative). If you have any questions: Some links of interest / information: