A Different Type of Impact

摘要

"I'm going to donate a kidney to Abe. " With that simple statement, my husband told me he was going to donate a kidney to one of our colleagues who I will call Abe for the purposes of this story. Since April is National Donate Life Month {www.donatelife.netdlm), I thought it appropriate to share my journey in the hope it might inspire others. So, how did this journey start? In 2004, my husband and I were both working for the US Navy and as adjuncts at a local university teaching night classes in statistics and mathematics. Abe was the head of the computer science department at the time, and we came to know him well. From conversations with Abe, my husband learned Abe wanted to work on his PhD but was dealing with many challenges. His family included older children and a newborn. He had a long commute to the university, where he was teaching a full load of four classes per quarter and had extra duties as department head. The most critical issue was his health. Abe had end-stage renal disease (ESRD).