Need a new kidney? Try Facebook

Damon Brown, pictured with his 5-year-old son, Julian, found a kidney on Facebook after telling his story on a special page the Seattle man created. More organ matches are being facilitated through social media, said a spokeswoman for an organ-sharing network.

Published Monday January 2, 2012

Need a kidney donor? Try Facebook

SEATTLE (AP) ? Between the kid photos and reminiscences about high school on Facebook, more and more pleas for help from people with failing kidneys are popping up.

Facebook and other social media sites are quickly becoming go-to places to find a generous person with a kidney to spare, according to the people asking for help and some national organizations that facilitate matches.

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Damon Brown found a kidney on Facebook after telling his story on a special page the Seattle dad created under the name, "Damon Kidney." His friends and family forwarded the link to everyone they knew, and on Tuesday a woman his wife has known for years, but not someone they consider a close family friend, will be giving him a kidney.

"She said it wasn't really for me. It was for my kids, because they deserve to have a dad around," said Brown, 38.

Brown's story is not unique, said April Paschke, a spokeswoman for the United Network for Organ Sharing, a private nonprofit organization that manages the nation's organ transplant system for the federal government.

"We see more and more people matched up by social media," she said. "It's an extension of the way we communicate. Before we found the Internet, people found other ways: through a church bulletin, word of mouth or an advertisement even."

In 2011, a man in Michigan also found a kidney donor through Facebook, and a Florida woman found one through Craigslist.

Many people are not aware that kidney and liver donations can now come from living donors.

In 2010, 16,800 kidney transplants were performed in the United States, of which 6,277 came from living donors, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. An average of 46 kidney transplants take place each day in this country, while 13 people who have been waiting for a kidney die each day. About 90,000 are on the transplant list.

Jacqueline Ryall, 45, said she felt a need to donate a kidney to Brown to give back her own good health and all she has been given.

She talked about how beautiful Damon and Bethany's kids are.

"The real reason I'm doing this is he's got kids and he's a good guy," she said.

"My life is in a good place. I've been given lots, and I have a responsibility to give back."

"Right now it feels like absolutely the right thing to do," she said, adding she hopes her decision will help make other people less afraid to do the same thing.

Copyright ?2012 Omaha World-Herald?. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.

Source: http://www.omaha.com/article/20120102/LIVEWELL01/701029937

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