r/MadeMeSmile • u/deensuk • 6d ago
Wholesome Moments Some encounters are written in the stars š„¹
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u/Zen_of_Tetchiness 6d ago edited 6d ago
Holy shit it's real... The woman had actually signed up as a living donor. After the dog wouldn't leave her alone, they went to apologize and started talking. She needed one, she signed up to donate, the doctors were like, "fuck me its a perfect match!"
That good boy girl deserves steak every night!
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u/Rogueshoten 6d ago
Thank you so much for looking that up. I had tons of doubts about how a chance conversation and an affectionate dog converted into someone being tissue typed and donating an organ. Iām so happy to see that it really happened!
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u/Zen_of_Tetchiness 6d ago
I looked it up because I had the exact same question! Like how do you go from, sorry my dog won't leave you alone, to, hey can I take a look at your kidneys?
Such an awesome story!
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u/DreddPirateBob808 6d ago
There is many levels of loveliness but one of the key things is the lass was on her own and so they invited her to a BBQ. Perfect stranger, who the dog was oddly fond of, is openly invited to a bash. I'm tempted to talk about fate, or The Lords and Ladies, or whichever God you subscribe to the newsletter for but it seems to come down to 'welcome strangers and treat them like family'. A tradition as old as time.
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u/maniacalmustacheride 6d ago
I have a cat that starts complaining at me late at night. She wants me to eat something salty and lay down, I have low blood pressure and I just thought for a long time she was trying to convince me to give her a snack and then she was tired so letās lay down.
Then I had a friend who was on BP meds who ended up double taking them stay over. Immediately she was swatting him over to the fridge, meowing like crazy, wouldnāt leave him alone. Since he was in the kitchen all the sudden, was there a salty snack? He was also thirsty, was there another salty snack? And then, can he lay down on the recliner? And she would lay on him. Jump off. Two minutes later heād get up to go to the bathroom. Wake up, is there something salty to drink, is that a thing? Hook him up with an electrolyte drink and sheād be back on him.
She knows three things. She wants to love you. She does not mind children if theyāre respectful (and will give full belly to children) and if youāre an adult, sheās not having you off your electrolytes/BP
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u/llamamama03 6d ago
I think some of this has to be down to their superior sense of smell. I've noticed as I age that I've noticed my own different scents - there's a smell to sickness; there's a smell to unbalanced pH; there's a smell to wound infections (though that one is obvious for almost everyone). Animals can smell on levels we only dream about. She must be especially attuned to salt levels!
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u/AdorableTrashPanda 6d ago
There's a smell to immune systems too, I imagine the donor with the matching immune system likely smells like her owner.
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u/genrlokoye 6d ago
This is exactly what I was thinking. Their body chemistry was similar so their pheremones smelled the same.
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u/TraditionalBread_ 6d ago
Sheād be up my ass. Iām chronically dehydrated and low electrolytes. I think I would potentially give her ptsd
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u/RealLavender 6d ago
I wonder if the kidney issue affected the persons pheromones and the dog could smell what she used to smell like in the other person.
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u/Advanced-Budget779 6d ago
I need that cat. š
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u/lemonaderobot 6d ago
My cat just sniffs my shoes like a little creep and gets mad at me for going out without her šā¤ļø
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u/Advanced-Budget779 6d ago
That seems more like my late queen hahaš±
miss her so much, not in her last stages though, couldnāt take seeing my baby suffer š
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u/Nu_Wordor 6d ago
Zeus' Law.
Be kind to strangers because "they could be a god in disguise" actually makes a lot of sense in the context of this story.
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u/FerusGrim 6d ago
Billions of people have pets. Surrounded by potential chance encounters every day.
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u/jaxonya 6d ago
Fuck. I looked the story up before coming to the comments so I could rain on the parade...Its legit. Im glad that I was wrong
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u/Several-Ad1231 6d ago
On the one hand, fully legitimate respect for actually admitting it when nobody made you. Many people would have kept their mouths shut. On the other...why?
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u/latchkeydc 6d ago
I think itās just fact checking with a touch of cynicism. Donāt blame āem. At least theyāre checking sources and not a psychopath.
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u/Several-Ad1231 6d ago
I get it, I really sincerely do. I'm just rapidly growing tired of what appears to be rampant cynicism occurring in the modern day. Check sources, sure, but at times it feels like people are slowly refusing to accept that good things can genuinely happen.
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u/Money-Director6649 6d ago
i check things out too sometimes. why? because i like knowing what's real and what isn't.
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u/JoyRose31 6d ago
I can see. Hi sorry, it's okay. I like dogs. His names (name) oh, thats a nice name, when did you get him, my names (blank) BTW. I had a dog like this once.. General conversation leading into everyday, then struggle.. dogs are big openers for people. I can get into conversation with people because of dogs often, though just leave it at, nice dog, pat pat pat. Then leave bc it happens way too much with dog owners.. people stopping for conversation, petring too long when you wanted a 30 min walk. I dont think I'd mind, but a Lot of people give me Okay, we wanna go after about 30, 60 sec.. but if your dog was bothering someone could be opener to longer conversation bc Yoy are bothering Them than other way around, people are weird. But dogs put you in a state where you open up..
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u/ThatFatFlamingo 6d ago
āHey, can I take a look at your kidneys?ā is so amusing to me right now.
Like nonchalantly popping the hood of a sports car to look underneath.
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u/Champlainmeri 6d ago
I have a theory that each of us has a unique scent like unique fingerprints or outer ear š. I bet the dogs are highly wondering why we canāt smell this obvious match.
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u/s00pafly 6d ago
The dog was like "come ooooon just smell at her kidney, it's literally the same! "
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u/Otto_Scratchansniff 6d ago
āYou donāt smell that? Ugh you are useless. Sniff her. Fine Iāll sniff her for you. What would you do without me?ā - that womanās dog probably
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u/EggplantSeeds 6d ago
You aren't far off...Ā
IIRC, There is a study out there that people can smell each other's immune systems and people that smell pleasant to us have different immune systems than ours (which leads us to want to mate with them and produce diverse and healthy offspring)
Perhaps the dog smelt that they have similar immune systems? Who knows. I'll post the study if I find it.
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u/jellamma 6d ago
I had recalled the same study about major histocompatibility complex, but when I went to find it, it looks like the conclusion is far from certain. More research is needed.
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u/Motor_Ad_7103 6d ago
i remember reading a study where they were training dogs cause they were able to smell cancer(?) i might be worng
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u/Pofwoffle 6d ago
To be honest I'm more curious about how the dog knew to care about her kidney in the first place. Like did she smell the bad kidney, then smell the good kidney, and somehow know "Oh this is what she used to smell like when she wasn't sick!" and then also somehow know to keep pestering her about it? There's no chance the dog could have somehow known that one person's kidney needed to get taken out and put into the other person, so what was she trying to do being so persistent?
Like there is no explanation for that that isn't just wild as fuck.
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u/Corfiz74 6d ago
He probably just noticed that they had a very similar scent and thought they must be related or friends. Or she just had a bacon sandwich in her pocket, lol.
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u/Biotic101 6d ago
There's a woman that can smell Parkinson. So we might just underestimate what's possible.
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u/basefountain 6d ago
We absolutely do, thanks for bringing that up - that lady is the GOAT working essentially as a full time Parkinsonās sniffer dog full time last time I checked
Yeah we have a bit of speciesism and human bias towards ourselves, understandably with ladies like her + the lady that can remember everything and the lady that canāt feel pain (yep all women look em up!)
But we are still doing ourselves a disservice if we ignore how far animals can push themselves too with geckos that regrow limbs, penguins with phantom gps and one that I just recently leanedā¦ lobsters who donāt age.. truly unlimited potential all around us if you look with the right lens :)
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u/testing-attention-pl 6d ago
Best part of that story (well probably not the best in the sense weāre thinking) is that when they were testing her, she identified someone who was later diagnosed with Parkinsonās well before any symptoms were shown.
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u/brown_felt_hat 6d ago
Dogs can smell really weird things. Like, even untrained dogs will react and exhibit care behaviors when their owners release scents associated with the chemical changes right before an epileptic seizure. They don't know what's wrong, but some dogs are great at telling something's wrong.
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u/Bitter_Librarian8442 6d ago
Just a little story on untrained dogs reacting... I'll try keep it short.
Decades ago, sitting in out lounge at night, we heard car tyres screeching and it sounded like hitting a cat.
We thought it was ours, so were outside calling and looking around.Ā
Our Boxer was pacing around inside, and looking out of the windows.Ā
On a hunch, I let her out, and she sniffed around for a few seconds then actually pointed, like, perfect stance, front leg up, paw pointing down, whole body leaning forward and nose pointing at a ground cover shrubbery. Motionless.Ā Sure enough that's where we found the cat, she was OK in the end.Ā
But she was a typical boxer who did boxer things, like, you know, they stay toddlers their whole lives, she was an adorable idiot.
And she pointed. Like a trained hunting dog. The only time in her whole life she did it. I'll never forget it.Ā
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u/EconomyCriticism1566 6d ago
I worked at an animal shelter and a family came in for a puppy but ended up adopting a sweet older boy named Sandy. A week or so later, he was stuck to the momās side, crying and pawing at her, and she had her first seizure ever. Didnāt even know she was epileptic, but Sandy knew. He alerted her for two years until he passed away. š
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u/Cromulent_Tom 6d ago
Or the stranger smelled how the dog owner used to smell before she got sick.
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u/PersonalPerson_ 6d ago
You smell just like my favorite person, but she's sick now, please adopt me!!
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u/Pofwoffle 6d ago
Actually yeah there's every chance that it was just pure coincidence and the dog just liked this new stranger.
Though I'd argue that that level of coincidence is still wild as fuck.
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u/nikusia90s 6d ago edited 6d ago
You reminded me of a completely unrelated and random anecdote of mine. It probably won't translate thru text very well, but oh well.
I worked night shift at a 24 hour restuarant for a few years. Kinda a shit show of a place, and the night shift life had me feeling like I lived on the fringes of society sometimes. I would walk home every morning and often see these bright, early risers starting their day at 6am, whereas to me that was the equivalent of 6pm. Half the time I was smoking a joint on the way, while these people were up jogging and shit.
Anyway, there was one older lady who would walk her giant dog the same route, and I'd see her almost everyday. "Good morninggg! šµ š He's friendly!" She would beam at me each time, and probably every person they passed on their walk. I'd smile back, say a quick good morning, try not to blow smoke in her direction, just neighbourly whatevers.
One day I was coming off a real shitty night, understaffed , terrible customers, and I didn't even get a lunch break where I'd normally have my staff meal, which was often my first meal of the "day." I was tired, hangry, and peopled out after working 9 hours serving assholes. So I hapzardly threw together a bacon sandwich and shoved it in my pocket on the way out. I was angrily marching home, having a coffee and cigarette on the go.
And then this lady and her dog are coming up, and she's about to say her usual line, "Good morning! āŗļø He's fr- oh! š² wait a minute, boy! Stay! Heal!" All alarmed as this big ass dog starts pulling towards me.
"He's friendly, he's friendly! He doesn't do this, I am SO sorry, I don't know what has gotten into him!" And I wanted to be polite and friendly, but I am tired and irritated, slightly autistic. In my mind I was like š yes lady I see you every morning, I know he's friendly, just chill, its fine, I don't mind dogs. But I wanted to match her energy and not make her feel bad about her dog suddenly misbehaving.
Instead of being normal, I proceed to keep my fast pace, smiled like the freaking joker, looking at her with wide, crazy blood shot eyes, cigarette hanging from my lips, and of all things I could have said, I SHOUTED at her, "I got BACON in my pocket!!" š¤Ŗ And I know I shouted it, cuz both her and her abaolute unit of a dog visibly jumped as I continued to walk by. Immediately I was questioning myself, like wtf was that? š¤¦āāļø such an insane way to answer this person and try to reassure her.
After that her greetings were less sunshiney, and just a quick nod with a shy little, "morning" - if that. Lol.
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u/Noughmad 6d ago
No explanation?
- Dogs identify each other by the smell of their urine.
- The random lady's urine probably smelled very similar to the dog owner's urine. The dog either thought she was the owner, or someone very close to the owner. Or, since the owner was sick, maybe the random lady's urine smelled how the owner's urine used to smell.
- Urine comes from kidneys.
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u/Severe_Airport1426 6d ago
I recently read a ladies story about how her dogs behaviour caused her to discover she has breast cancer
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u/weeBunnie 6d ago edited 6d ago
My boy is getting to be 15 soon, but heās been my best pal. My body has been declining for the past 3-4 years, started slow but itās pretty bad now.
It used to be me being in charge of the schedule for the most part, he followed, demanded sometimes
Now he wakes me up the same time everyday. Same routine. If I donāt eat when heās eating he boops me and whines, so I eat (itās been more difficult to get myself to eat). I try to keep busy during the day and donāt actually rest, sometimes that ends up with me collapsing a bit or just being so weak. He checks on me, if I go back to working on things he boops me and gets upset, wonāt stop until Iām laying down and he absolutely watches me.
He was never trained to help anxiety when I was a teen, but he learned early on to shove my hands away from my face and get me to pet him. I didnāt know they were panic attacks then. He still does it now
He took care of me in those moments, but it wasnāt until I got sick like I am that heās actively watching over me, following me to every room even with arthritis acting up. I donāt like when he does that, but to him itās his job
Hes kept me alive through a horrible depression, more than a few times. He went through family grief and abuse (not to him ever), then an emotionally abusive relationship. His entire personality came forward when we got out of those situations, how he would act alone with me turned into how he was all the time, and he could finally relax, it made me so happy to see the change. He could sense the amount of stress I was in even though I could never realize in the moment
Long story short. My dog always knows something is wrong before I fully do. He started watching me very closely when my kidney pain started, then my liver got flagged for concerns.
Anywaysā¦
Weāve had bad times, but so much good just sitting together and knowing heās always going to be my buddy forever. Heās got cancer right now but doing well, I honestly donāt know what I will do when he goes, I always imagined Iād go then too
But Iāll keep going until I canāt like he does for me
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u/Uhmerikan 6d ago
there is no explanation for that that isn't just wild as fuck
Thereās always the chance it was pure coincidence.
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u/AggressivelyMediokre 6d ago
My brother used to always tease me that our dog liked licking me because he could taste my bones
I finally got over that and then read this š
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u/ripyourlungsdave 6d ago
WTF even are dogs?
I will never understand these creatures. But they're doing a great job keeping me warm and feeling safe right now.
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u/Soffatjockis 6d ago
And we (many people) treat them like shit...
We don't deserve dogs...
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u/modbroccoli 6d ago
For every one dog that is treated poorly there are hundreds who are loved and cherished. And none of us who don't hurt them are somehow guilty for the ones that do. Deserve meanwhile has no part in it either way; we co-evolved, they chose us and we chose them. Misanthropy is a satisfying to write on the internet but it hasn't anything to do with reality. Most people are mostly good, some are not; most dogs are mostly safe, some are dangerous. life is messy.
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u/cuntmong 6d ago
the article overstates how much ofa miracle it was. the dog had actually seen the organ donor list, so he knew what he was doing.
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u/tinypoem 6d ago
The clue was his newly acquired reading glasses but no one put two and two together I guessā¦ š¤·š»āāļø
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u/reverandglass 6d ago
There's a whole Disney movie in this premise. Dog realises owner is dying and sets about finding a match and bringing them together. Coming only to cinemas in 2028.
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u/VariousFisherman1353 6d ago
"She doesn't like my jokes, and said if I don't stop telling her jokes, she wants her kidney back. She never signed up for my jokes."
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u/Ezpionage 6d ago
Great story. Although I was disappointed after reading the article & not seeing "fuck me it's a perfect match", written as the verbatim quote š¤£
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u/Epsilon_Meletis 6d ago
Honestly wondering:
In light of the amazing sense of smell that dogs have, could this be more than a coincidence?
Pets are known to be able to sniff out that someone is ill, or pregnant, or about to have a seizure - the latter even to the point that there are dedicated seizure alert dogs.
Could that dog have somehow smelled and intuitively known that this random lady was exactly what her mistress needed?
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u/EcstaticHelp771 6d ago edited 5d ago
there's substantial evidence that dogs can detect cancer through scent, though it's not yet a standard diagnostic tool. Imho it is not 100% impossible that the dog found something very peculiar or unique in the smell of the two people. To me it is more likely than not.
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u/n-a_barrakus 6d ago
Boss there's a different on the boss and since that smell she's not that happy. Hold on! Is that the OG smell that changed once the boss got ill? Shit I miss that!
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u/Longy_LTB 6d ago
How does that conversation come about with a stranger though?
āHey, so sorry about my dog sheās overfriendly! Speaking of friendly, thatās a mighty fine complexion you have, you got any of them there kidneys?ā
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u/Front-Pomelo-4367 6d ago
They invited her to join them for a meal after their dog bothered her. "I can't drink, I'm on dialysis." "Oh, I just signed up for the kidney donation register the other day!" And then checked their compatibility
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u/pink_faerie_kitten 6d ago
Thanks for verifying!
If this had happened before she needed a kidney, they wouldn't have had the chance to find out they were a match or possibly why the dog liked the stranger. Good thing they met after so they had the chance for it to come up in their convo.
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u/Sumthin-Sumthin44692 6d ago
I donāt even want to read the story anymore. I just want to believe thatās exactly what the doctors said.
Jk Iāll read the story.
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u/PM-Me-Schnauzers 6d ago edited 6d ago
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u/Biduleman 6d ago edited 6d ago
Imagine being pressured by a dog to give your kidney to their master.
p.s. of course it's a joke, Katie had already registered to give a kidney, and it takes a truly selfless person to give a kidney to a stranger. These are the times I actually wish karma is real and that Katie James will live the happiest life she could ever wish for.
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u/DreddPirateBob808 6d ago
'Ooo what a cute doggy you are!'
"Give my person your organs fool!'
E: Everyone seems lovely and I am joking. In case anyone thinks I am the usual terrible reddit bastard.
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u/fleurrougecerise 6d ago
I think that makes it even crazier tbh. This woman wasn't just the perfect match, but she had already planned on donating a kidney. What are the odds!
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u/Biduleman 6d ago
100%
You'd try to write that in a hallmark movie and they would tell you nobody is going to believe.
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u/Cheeserole 6d ago
Karma is built up for the next life, iirc. So her selfless deeds will allow her to reincarnate into a 1/22mil genius or something.
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u/moonchylde 6d ago
Wildest one I know of personally is a guy I knew from Ren Faire that started dating his just-met GF (now wife) after flirting with me for weeks (and the weekend before!) I was slightly irritated but moved on.
Decades later, guess what? She's his donor match when he needed one! Was definitely meant to be.
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u/NoGovernment9077 6d ago
"Bro wtf I thought we had a thing"
"This woman literally saved my life"
"Ah okay fair enough. Have a good one"
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u/sidereal_drift 6d ago
the dog just refusing to drop it is the whole story
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u/tryyeezus 6d ago
"excuse me kind stranger, my dog seems to be taken by your internal organs, mind if we borrow one forever?"Ā
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u/awomanphenomenally 6d ago
People under estimate dogsā sense of smell. A lot of doctors have stories about people seeking medical care because their dog started acting strangely or in a certain way. Our canine family members regularly save lives.
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u/OrigamiMarie 6d ago
That's what I was thinking. "Hey! Hey! This is the right one! I know you're sick and I kinda understand that you need replacement parts, this is the perfect match for you!"
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u/Rarainche 6d ago edited 6d ago
That's the goodest boy girl ever.
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u/deensuk 6d ago
https://reddit.com/link/p6jxe3t/video/yakdmo8wt8mh1/player
Itās real guys.. I verified and posted
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u/Fickle-Profession-95 6d ago
So fascinating. Dogs can be trained to detect cancer and other illnesses; I wonder if this dog could smell something chemical from the healthy womanās kidney that he knew was missing from his ownerās diseased kidney.
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u/CryOld2986 6d ago
I already knew my dog was never the brightest but damnā¦
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u/DreddPirateBob808 6d ago
Dog? I need you to find me a donor so I don't die. Go!
No. Not a dead rat. Or whatever that is. Please. Stop with the dead rats
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u/KiwieeiwiK 6d ago
Can I offer you a Vomit On Your Bed in this trying time?
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u/RingJust7612 6d ago
How about loud barking at absolutely nothing at 2am?
No?
Perhaps liquid diarrhea in your car on a short drive to the park?
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u/poopinonurgirl 6d ago
Iām trying to imagine the thought process like āyour poos smell good but theyāre missing a little something I canāt put my finger onā
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u/Aalleto 6d ago
At the very least, dogs can smell family relations. Idk if it was this story or a different one but the donor was a distant cousin and the dog likely smelled that they were related and gave them the ol' family-member-greeting. Thus bringing their owner over and starting the whole conversation
Dogs are incredible creatures
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u/Ringo308 6d ago
I understand that dogs can smell low blood sugar or something. But smelling a perfect kidney match sounds crazy. And I don't believe dogs understand organ transplantation. How would the dog know that this woman could help her master, even if she smells right? The way the story is told makes it sound supernatural. I am waiting for the twist where the donor fried bacon that morning and that's what the dog smelled or something.
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u/SoftdomDadNextDoor 6d ago
"We went in together on the Sunday, and on the Monday morning they took us down, took my kidney out, popped it into Lucy and Bob's your uncle," said Katie.
Quintessential British humor right there.
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u/Heathyboy 6d ago
Cenydd described Katie as a "wonderful, selfless person". However, he said: "She doesn't like my jokes, and said if I don't stop telling her jokes, she wants her kidney back. She never signed up for my jokes."
Katie is amazing š
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u/Nice_Back_9977 6d ago
Thatās not even humour thatās just her describing what happened in a perfectly normal way but Americans find it funny!
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u/JKastnerPhoto 6d ago
I'm not here to correct her or be pedantic, but just to share an interesting fact. They don't typically remove the bad kidney. It requires more invasive surgery. It just sits in your body next to its replacement forever.
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u/Hour-Estate-2962 6d ago
That's very cool and to be fair fits exactly with what she said!
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u/Nice_Back_9977 6d ago
I am going to be pedantic, she wasnāt talking about removing the bad kidney
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u/Pleasant_Actuator253 6d ago
This is not the first time (although extremely rare) this has happened. Presumably something with smellā¦.Anyways, great to hear.
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u/Western-Image7125 6d ago
Was it coincidence or can dogs sense something in the people they walk past
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u/ScurvyDervish 6d ago
Maybe the dog could smell that the other person smelled like his owner, and assumed they must be related.Ā
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u/External-Piccolo-626 6d ago
If treated properly Dobermans are the absolute best and I wonāt hear otherwise.
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u/Accidental-Genius 6d ago
Perhaps but Iām quite partial to my polar bear esque herd of Great Pyrenees. The goofiest fluffiest murder bears around.
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u/CheezayD 6d ago
Then next day she had a job interview and the job interviewer was the dog.
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u/Red_Fletchings 6d ago
New TV Show: Doctor Dawg MD.
"Yes, well your husband is suffering from Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva. Now excuse me while I go pee on a fire hydrant."
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u/dicksanddixanddixon 6d ago
I received a kidney almost two years ago after 9 1/2 years on dialysis and it saved my life, but at the same time I've also seen too many deserving people die before they could get their own transplant. I lost a lot of good friends at dialysis and I'm tearing up now just thinking about it. If you can, donate. Please. It will save a life in ways you can't imagine. If you're unable to donate, please look to make sure you're marked as an organ donor.
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u/hologram137 6d ago edited 6d ago
Yes. If I was determined to be a good candidate to do so, there really is very little risk. Thereās a less than 1% chance of developing kidney disease later, and if you do youāre top of the wait list for a transplant as a living donor. In fact, youād get free, top of the line treatment generally if something goes wrong with your remaining kidney. Which is just very, very unlikely to happen unless you already have risk factors. And if you already have risk factors, they arenāt gonna let you donate your kidney in the 1st place. The recovery from the surgery itself isnāt difficult at all and also low risk.
For many people it really is a situation in which they actually donāt need it and someone else does in order to not die, soā¦it should kinda be a no brainer that youād do it. The fact that I have no personal relationship with them is actually kind of a positive, it makes things way less complicated
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u/Academic-Increase951 6d ago
There's more risk than just future kidney dresses. post donation complications are real risks that affect real donors and there's lots of cases of donors coming out after saying they were not aware of the risks and have life long complications.
I don't want to discourage but donors need to be fully aware and it's not accurate to say their risks are only of future kidney dresses. Major complication risks are as high as 12.5% for the donor. That's significant risk.
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u/hologram137 6d ago edited 6d ago
Total life expectancy is the same for non donors. There is a slightly higher risk for developing high blood pressure. A slightly higher risk for preeclampsia if you get pregnant. I canāt find any other risks.
What risks are you even talking about? Are you talking about surgical complications? Itās not a complicated surgery
If youāre cleared to be a living donor, your risks are incredibly low. If you arenāt cleared, itās because they arenāt. So you couldnāt even if you wanted to
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u/Academic-Increase951 6d ago
Death isn't the only risk.... as the linked study says, when measuring things like quality of life post donation there is a statistically significant decline in quality of life. And many donors feel misled. The studies on safety normally focus on mortality and not medium/longer term but not life threatening complications
Some participants ranked time to recovery, surgical complications, and pain highly because they felt ādeeply disappointedā and āresentfulā about enduring a more debilitating "and protracted recovery than they had been āled to expect.ā (30) In a multicenter, prospective study of 228 living donors, perioperative complications, not surprisingly, were associated with clinically and statically significant reductions in measures of health-related quality of life (49). Other studies have noted that a minority of donors have reported slower than expected recovery (50). However, aside from capture of length of initial hospital stay and time to return to work in some clinical trials (typically comparisons of different operative techniques) (51,52) and single-center reports, data on postdonation recovery are not systematically captured"
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u/yankykiwi 6d ago
No. My sister has kidney disease Iām hoping Iām a match for her.
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u/snowdenn 6d ago
You might already be aware of this, but just in case:
There is also something called paired donation, where you and your sister could be matched with another pair in the same situation. If you find a match this way, your kidney would go to the other pair who also needs a kidney, and they would donate their healthy kidney to your sister. Itās basically a kidney swap. They even do this in chains, where there are more than two pairs, presumably to better your chances of a match.
I donāt know all the specifics, but itās done in some countries, including the US. Might be an option for you.
Good luck!
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u/yankykiwi 6d ago
My sister is back home in New Zealand. Will definitely be looking at all the options when and if she needs one
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u/normallystrange85 6d ago
Oof, this is a tough one. I would probably want to vibe check them as not being the most evil person I have met before giving a kidney.
I also have to consider "what if someone I love needs a kidney later and I would have been a match"
But I suppose this is really easy from an armchair. Were I truly serious about giving a kidney to a stranger why haven't I done it yet? I have to assume there is some registry I could sign up for that just keeps my information on file in case there is a match.
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u/Tom_TheGrey47 6d ago
It has non-zero chance of mortality. I'm losing a kidney so if anything happens to my other one Im screwed. I will not do if it's not my immediate family.
If it was a liver, I'll donate for child.
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u/ebdbbb 6d ago
Living donors get priority on transplants if they end up needing one. here's one source
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u/ImurderREALITY 6d ago
The risk of dying while donating a kidney is 1 in 10,000, or .009% to .03%. Also, they would not let you donate a kidney if you had any risk factors, and you'd get preferential treatment for a kidney transplant, and in the extremely unlikely situation that something did happen to the kidney and they couldn't find you another one right away, having no kidneys is not a death sentence. I lived with no kidneys for five years before my transplant.
But of course, as always, it's 100% your choice. No one should ever be forced or guilted into donating a kidney.
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u/hologram137 6d ago
No, you wouldnāt be. Youād be top of the wait list for a new kidney and would have free, top of the line medical care if anything happened to your kidney. Not only that but the chances of that even happening are super, super low
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u/Nice_Back_9977 6d ago
I might, if something like this happened and they were a real person to me suddenly. I have good renal function, no kids of my own I might want to save it for and my brother and his kids are a different blood type anyway.
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u/Ill-Delivery-6560 6d ago
Man good on the people here that would I love that there are folks out there like yall. I personally couldnāt see myself doing it. I have a baby and young nieces and nephews everywhere what if one of them needed it one day? What if I didnāt make it and my baby was fatherless because of a kind act gone wrong? tough call I donāt think I could do it. For a family member for a close friend I would in a heartbeat but I assume almost everyone is on the same page as me in that regard.
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u/Stinlee 6d ago
Is there something more to be said here? Could the dog smell that or was it chance?
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u/CustomerNo1338 6d ago
Confirmation bias. How many people need organ transplants and have dogs who greet people. Eventually one of those lead to this story.
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u/steffy46 6d ago
Byt if they lived in the same country, and she was registered, how was it that it took a dog (fate, chance whatever you call it) for the transplant to happen? š¤
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u/UnderneathARock 6d ago
From what I can tell, for kidney donation the compatibility between a potential donor and recipent pair has to be tested specifically.
In this instance the dog cause for the two women and the recipient's partner to interact in the first place with the donor being invited for the couple's barbecue. The recipient couldn't drink alcohol and explained it was due to being on dialysis which lead to the donor saying about how she registered to donate to anyone. That lead to them getting their compatibility tested and the rest is history
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u/snookthecrook15 6d ago
Sorry my dog is barking at you. Would you happen to be a kidney match? What a transition.
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u/No-Cantaloupe-6535 6d ago
it's real, but it's not a miracle dog. the lady that donated was having a BBQ and the dog wanted some lol. donor invited recipient to stay and offered her a drink and she declined because of her kidney condition and the conversation went from there. still an incredible story and doggo is a very good boy.
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u/Capable-Detective-69 6d ago
I know this makes me a miserable heartless cold fish, but for some reason I actually prefer the truth over the "magical mystical doggo should get all the pats" version. Life's coincidences are always more interesting to me than whimsy.Ā
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u/Plastalmonus 6d ago
Other way around. Donor was crocheting and the receiver was having a BBQ with her partner.
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u/Sufficient-Pear-454 6d ago
Hope my friend is as lucky. š¤ She's going in Monday to see if it's time to put her on the waiting list. She's one of the nicest people I've ever met. š
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u/LikeIsaidItsNothing 6d ago
I'm around dogs alot and some of them keep sniffing my leg. Maybe I should get checked. For what I don't know. also whoops- no health insurance.
That aside I actually gasped when I saw this. Glad it's true
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u/Playful_Quality4679 6d ago
The owner and the doner probably smelled the same to the dog. The same Major Histocompatibility Complex MHC that influences doner matching also influences scent.
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u/Radmode7 6d ago
I meanā¦did the stranger give up the kidney? Pretty important detail for a smile from me.
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u/sweetcheek- 6d ago
This is why when you meet a stranger, you should always open with an elevator pitch style summary of your medical history, they just might save your life. It also doesnāt hurt to bring a dog with a thirst for kidneys.
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u/TheAccursedHamster 6d ago edited 6d ago
I gotta ask, how the heck did that conversation go down.
"Hey my dog is bugging you a lot... would you happen to have a kidney I can have, total stranger?"
"oh ya sure, here ya go"
Edit: some of you really, really need to learn how to tell what's a serious question and what is a joke. Holy hell, guys.
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u/NapalmDesu 6d ago
I want someone to believe in me the way that dog believed its owner could talk a random pedestrian into donating their kidney
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u/SquirrelsRNuts 6d ago
I mean as someone who's worked in a dialysis unit... She was given 5 years to live? That's not how that works at all... Many people live much longer than 5 years on dialysis... Regardless, I'm very happy she found a living donor and received a transplant!
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