Ohio Man Is Using Facebook To A Find Kidney Donor
Randy Wright needs a kidney donor for his ailing condition, so he turned to Facebook as a means that will hopefully save his life.
Randy Wright needs a kidney donor for his ailing condition, so he turned to Facebook as a means that will hopefully save his life.
The 45-year-old has polycystic kidney disease (multiple cysts on the kidneys) which went undetected, until a freak accident two years involving his falling off a tractor, wound him up in a hospital where his condition was diagnosed.
Wright has been campaigning for organ donations and has tried to spread the word to everyone he comes into contact with — even a Walmart clerk. When the carpenter spoke to the retail clerk about the importance of organ donation, she in turn hipped him to the power of social media. So Wright, who lives in Huron County, Ohio decided to spread the word about his cause and his own plight via Facebook.
Reportedly, there are nearly 112,000 Americans awaiting organ transplants, including nearly 90,000 who need kidneys. An estimated every 11 minutes a person is added to an organs waiting list and about 18 potential transplant patients die each day because they arer never called for the procedure.
On Wright’s “Need ‘O’ Kidney” (he has O type blood) Facebook community page which is liked by 97 people, he has the slogan: “Will swap two ‘A’ kidneys for one ‘O.’ Stay tuned in my quest for a kidney, and please Donate Life.”
Upon perusing Wright’s landing page on the social networking site, you’ll also find words of encouragement for him and stories from others who have shared similar plights. The dad of three is hoping to not only offer support and hope for folks who are in his similar situation but to also spur support for his organ donation cause.
Wright has two younger brothers who are each willing to donate their kidneys in a paired chain (that would be the trade alluded to in the slogan on the Facebook page).
Dr. Michael Rees, a transplant surgeon at the University of Toledo Medical Center, where Wright is currently on a waiting list, has developed a method to increase the number of kidney transplants that can be done by starting chains of donations, with the first beginning in 2007.
