In 2016, Lori Davis’ relentless self-advocacy and prayers landed her a living donor when she was in need of a kidney transplant.
Now, nine years later, Davis finds herself in the same position: searching for a living donor. While searching for her own donor, Davis hopes to share resources for fellow patients and destigmatize living organ donations.
Davis is no stranger to kidney issues, yet her diagnosis of Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, a kidney disease prevalent in her family, still left Davis feeling in the dark.
“It was devastating the first time going through this, because I watched my sister go through it. I watched all the failures with her and I said that I do not ever want that. At that time, I was in denial about a kidney transplant,” Davis said.
A key player in Davis’ journey through finding a kidney donor was Kent Bressler. Bressler founded Kidney Solutions, an organization that provides resources and guidance for people dealing with chronic kidney disease.
“Kent came into my life because he fought for kidney patients’ rights. He has always been there fighting for people to get free healthcare and medications for their kidneys. I know God put him in my life because he had my same disease and I had never heard of my disease outside of my sister, and at the time he was a 29-year kidney recipient,” Davis said.
Back when Davis and Bressler first connected, she was his first patient. After years of continuing to grow this support system for kidney disease patients, Bressler and Kidney Solutions’ staffers hold support groups in hospitals, share resources for live donors and offer mentorship.
“He came in as just my advisor. He made my flyer and helped me through everything. My transplant brought me, Whitney, and Kent together. Then Kent decided he wanted to help more patients find kidneys because he really enjoyed helping me,” Davis said.
With Davis going through the transplant process a second time nearly a decade later, she knew exactly who to call.
“At the time of my transplant, people weren’t really talking about live donors. I want to bring awareness to live donors and want people to know that you have to be proactive. If you get on that transplant list, you’re going to be waiting for years. That’s what I love about Kent. He gets involved and gets you a kidney in time,” Davis said.
The testing process to be a live donor consists of testing on medical history, mental preparedness, and overall compatibility.
“They run you through medical history questions, that’s the first step. Then the second step is they send you the testing and you get blood work done. If it’s a match, a surgery can be scheduled as soon as possible. Then, most donors have a hospital stay of only 3-4 days. The important thing to know is that the recipient’s insurance covers all of that,” Davis said.
For those interested in becoming a live donor for Lori or others in need of a kidney, fill out an interest form at Kidney Solutions online https://app.joinit.com/o/kidney-solutions/Ya2mJxANp2LfwYxEA.