EP 91: A Calling To Find A Kidney Donor For All In Need

This Thing Called Life

A Calling To Find A Kidney Donor For All In Need

Darcy Gibson and Andy Johnson discuss the challenges faced by kidney transplant recipients and their families. In this episode they shared their experiences highlighting the importance of storytelling and education when raising awareness about kidney disease, emphasizing the impact of personal stories on building empathy and creating a sense of community.

Episode Highlights:

• Andi Johnson introduces Darci Gibson and the non-profit organization “Off The List”.
• “Off the List” aims to support individuals on the kidney transplant list and their families through their journey of waiting for a kidney and provide them with tools and resources to help them share their stories to find donors
• Darci shares what motivated her to start this non-profit and the passion behind the project.
• Darci tells us that her father needed a Kidney transplant, so she leveraged her background in Marketing to share her family story and get the word out about his need.
• Andi shares the importance of taking action and control over one's health, particularly for those with kidney disease or type 2 diabetes.
• Darci highlights the need for creating awareness and conversations around these conditions, as people often accept them as their fate without realizing they can take action to prevent or manage them.
• Darci shares an "aha" moment about the number of young people calling for kidney transplants, highlighting the need for early education and resource sharing.
• Darci offers encouragement to frustrated dialysis patients, emphasizing hope and support from others, including the possibility of finding a living donor.
• Andi asks how many families are “Off The List” helping now, and Darcy shares that they are currently working with 80 families.
• For those who want to contribute, the easiest way would be to go to their website https://getoffthelist.org/
• There are programs through the National Kidney Registry where you can donate a kidney. It's called their advanced Donation Program, and you can designate up to five people in your family should they ever need an organ donation.

3 Key Points:

1. Darci Gibson tells us about their non-profit organization called ‘Off The List’ and shares how she was pushed into that journey by her own experiences.
2. She also highlights the importance of early education for the next generation to help prevent kidney disease and to have the strength to believe that they could still take steps to manage it.
3. Darci offers words of encouragement to a frustrated dialysis patient, emphasizing hope and support from others, including the possibility of finding a living donor.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “... You have to share personal information. And that's hard to do, as humans, it's hard to ask people for help. And so I felt like there was a gap there that we could help fill and partner with the transplant centers and dialysis and nephrology to be able to just really dig in and personally with families through that and give them the tools.” - Darci Gibson
• “We just want them to know that we're here.” - Darci Gibson
• “And it's interesting how when I look back now, all of those things, was preparing me to do this. I mean, there was a reason and a purpose and that's why God was preparing me for this work.” - Darci Gibson

Resources:

https://getoffthelist.org/

https://lifepassiton.org/

https://lifepassiton.org/board-of-directors-leadership/

https://www.facebook.com/LifeCenterOH

https://www.youtube.com/user/LifeCenterOH

https://aopo.org/