Dear Family and Friends,

This is not an easy letter to write. The fact that I write for a living makes it no easier. In fact, I have been writing anything but this letter for weeks now. My doctors, however, insist that I send it
No, I’m not dying. I feel fine and hope to continue to feel fine. My kidneys, however, are dying. I’m at about 19% kidney function now and when they hit 15% or so, perhaps in a year from now, they’re done.
I am on the list to receive a kidney transplant from a cadaver and I am lucky to have type A blood. People with type A blood have a much shorter than the typical five-year wait for a cadaver’s kidney since they can accept both type A and type O kidneys from the organ bank. Organs from a cadaver can last around ten years and I will accept one gratefully.
A perfect match from a living donor, however, can last up to twenty years.
This is why I’m writing to you.
If you are at all interested in more information on donating to me one of your kidneys please call or email Joan Kelly, RN, chief transplant coordinator at the Columbia University Medical Center. Her number is (212) 305-6469 and her email is kellyja@nyp.org. She knows me as William “Trey” Ellis and my date of birth is 10/14/1962.
Nurse Kelly can answer any questions you might have about living donation, the laproscopic surgical techniques, risks, recovery time, etc. If you were so inclined, the first step would be a blood test to see if you were a perfect match.
I am sending this odd and embarrassing email impersonally and to a wide range of friends and family to try to take some pressure and awkwardness out of this request. You and I never have to talk about it. I’m casting a very wide net so if you cannot I’m sure somebody else will. Giving me one of your bodily organs is not a prerequisite for remaining my friend. And not being able to give me one will never be an excuse for our friendship to end.

Love,

Trey