#55. Funny looks - July 2012

One thing that is uncomfortable about donating a kidney is that when people find out that you are doing this, and when they find out that you are doing this for a stranger, you sometimes get funny looks. There are some people who are just roundly enthusiastic and affirming, but some people aren't.

I have gotten questions that don’t always seem kind.  Questions that either blatantly, or in a veiled way,  question my motives.  People peering at me, it seems, to see whether I am doing this for attention, or to try to be morally superior, or something.  I get extremely uncomfortable with these questions.  I know in my heart why I am doing this, and whatever else people may think about me, they can think.  I just have to do what I think is right for me to do. 

It’s because of these funny looks that it is very tempting to just do this donation privately, and not tell anyone except the very few people who need to know. 

But part of this journey for me has been and still is the desire to let people know that there are people dying in our country because they need a kidney.  I didn’t know I could donate until I chanced upon some article in a book.  Even though at times it’s uncomfortable sharing my story, I feel it’s important to share it, in the hopes that it will cause something to click in someone else’s mind.  Somewhere out there in Canada, someone will be listening to my story and the little tumblers will fall, and they’ll say, “Hey, I could do that too.”  And then some other family will be embracing their loved one rather than attending their funeral.

And so my small little act, can be a tiny snowball of hope for one or two or three other people.