Tami Winchell

Living Kidney Donor

Five years ago, my journey took an unsuspecting path. My husband of fifteen years was in kidney failure. After having lost his father at just five years old, living with the heartache even decades later, my husband was desperate to be present for his children. Much of his family had died with polycystic kidney disease while on dialysis waiting for a deceased donor kidney. He didn’t want to accept this same fate, but it looked inevitable.

As daunting as the task initially felt, we embarked on a relentless journey towards transplantation. At the time, it wasn’t easy, but it was discovered that I could be his donor. It wasn’t a perfect match by any means, quite the opposite, in fact. But it could be done. And so we did. Within just three months, we went from frantic with kidney failure, to at peace and grateful for a successful kidney transplantation.

But the journey didn’t end there. With the enormous mounting number of families distraught by kidney disease, we have taken on living kidney donation and transplant awareness and education as one of our passionate pursuits. Our arms and hearts are open to anyone who needs our personal support or guidance.