How You Can Help Save Someone’s Life By Being A Living Liver or Kidney Donor
LIVE ON: Real Stories of Living Liver Donors and Recipients (October 2019)
In Canada, there are over 4000 men, women & children who are currently waiting for a life-saving organ donation. In the United States of America, that number is over 100,000.
A lot of the conversations around organ donation are for when an individual dies. But as someone with a brother who has been fighting Stage 4 Liver Cirrhosis for over two years, I’ve learned a lot about how someone can be a living organ donor & be able to give the gift of life to someone else, at a low risk to themselves.
What are the benefits of a living-donor liver or kidney transplant?
There are many benefits of living liver or kidney donation, including:
Living donor transplants helps save the lives of people with end-stage liver disease or kidney failure. Furthermore, it increases the number of livers & kidneys available for people on the transplant waiting list. You’re not just helping to save one life, but increasing the odds of survival for everyone on the waiting list just a little more.
Living-liver or kidney donors can feel good knowing that they've had a huge impact on another person's life.
Living liver or kidney donors and transplant recipients can schedule surgery at a time that works for both people.
Flexible scheduling allows the transplant to occur sooner. This can save valuable time spent on the liver or kidney transplant waitlist and reduce the risk that the recipient’s end-stage liver or renal disease will get worse.
For a living liver donor, because they are receiving a portion of a healthy donor's liver, recipients typically have improved long-term outcomes and quicker recovery
Girl receives lifesaving kidney during pandemic, thanks to former babysitter (May 2023)
Living liver donors, for example, do not typically experience any serious long-term complications, in part because the liver is unique among the body’s organs in its ability to regenerate. After giving part of one’s liver, it will eventually return to close to its original size. The most rapid regeneration occurs in the first six weeks after surgery—during this time, the liver typically returns to about 80 percent of its original size.
For a kidney donor & recipient, a transplanted kidney from a living donor often lasts longer. This is partly because time can be taken to do the necessary tests to get a better tissue match between donor and recipient, with less of a risk of organ rejection.
The kidney from a living donor is usually healthier than an organ from a deceased donor and may last longer: 15 to 20 years on average,
The kidney functions right away. A kidney from a living donor usually functions in the recipient from the time it is transplanted, so the recepient may avoid the need for dialysis.
How You Can Help
You may know someone right now that you care for a great deal who is requiring of living donor transplant surgery to live. In a matter of weeks, you can help save their life. And you don’t have to know someone to be a donor – you can simply sign up to be tested & if you feel compelled to go forward with the process, you’ll be matched with the right individual.
If you’re interested in being a living liver or kidney donor to someone in Canada or the United States of America, but don’t know where to start and need some help, simply message me in the form below. You do not need to share your name - just an email address and the province or state you’re living in, or asking about, and I’ll send you an e-bundle with all the information you need to get started, so that you can ask the right people the questions you need answered. You won’t be put on any mailing list or contacted unless you initiate dialogue.
I’ve put together an e-bundle for every health unit across North America detailing procedures, contact information, support services, community organizations that’ll offer assistance in the time you’re recovering, right down to support for those who who need to have their dog walked or their plants watered (Yes, I’ve thought of everything)
If you’re going to take this brave step for someone, whether you know them or not, let’s make sure we take care of you on the journey to recovery.
A video from the October 25th, 2024 news broadcast by CTV Network on the living donor program with the Ajmera Transplant Centre at Toronto General Hospital (Courtesy of Bell Media)
Form & Additional Iinformation
Once again, you do not need to provide your name. I do ask - if you do go ahead with at least being tested, I would encourage you to let me know, as I’d like to see if our efforts are working. If they’re not, then clearly I have more work I have to do, so it would be great to at least know people are responding in a positive fashion. You can email me at findsalimaliver@gmail.com to let me know. Below this for, you’ll also see a tracker for our rate of success in getting people to sign up to be tested.
Tracker: (as of December 20th, 2025)
(Note: This was an informal initiative as I was searching for a living liver donor for my brother - this initial data is before December 20th, 2025 & will be updated every three weeks)
Individuals who have signed up to be tested as a living liver or kidney donor in their area:
4.
Individuals who have been matched with a recipient for transplant surgery: