It started with a sign – a simple sign in a diner.

“In need of a kidney.”

The sign struck a chord in me.  I don’t know why, I knew very little about living donation back in 2019. With my minimal knowledge, my interest turned to fear and I mostly put the idea of gifting my kidney to a stranger out of my mind.

But I believe in signs and another sign showed up – this time on YouTube.

The title of the video read “The Truth about Living Kidney Donation”

I clicked on the TedTalk video and it was the mayor of a town just 20 minutes from my own.  He spoke about donating his kidney to a stranger is his town and the way he described answered many of my initial questions and quelled the majority of my fears.  The best part is that it inspired me to call the transplant center for the man on the initial sign on the diner’s wall.

Spring became Summer, Summer turned to Fall and I was cleared to donate my left kidney. I became part of a swap program in which my kidney went to an 18-year old in Brooklyn, NY and I was given a voucher for doing so.  That voucher went to the man in my hometown and he was bumped to the top of the transplant list.

Today, all three of us are healthy and a single gift changed the trajectory of my whole life personally and professionally. I have become the executive director of Donate Life Connecticut and I have had the great and rare privilege to connect recipients and donor families.

It is in the world of organ donation that I am ever reminded of the beauty, grit and deep love of the human spirit.

I want to thank donor mom, Kathy Bruno for nominating me. Her daughter Julia is a great teacher and inspiration to me though I never met her Earthside.