Finding Dan a Kidney

1 year ago today was the day that changed my life. With the most generous gift being given with no hesitation by my amazing mother in law, my days at dialysis and everything that went with it was gone.

For those of you all who supported me through thoughts, actions, prayers, or encouraging words thank you all as well. I am well, the kidney is doing great, and my mother in law is in great health.

For those of you who know someone who is still waiting for a kidney or living on dialysis, today is as good a day as any to send a positive word of support to their way.

If you are physically able to donate blood, please do so. If you haven’t signed up to be an organ donor, please consider it.

February 6th, the most wonderful gift from my mother-in-law, Sharon Keating Heiligman was delivered by the great transplant team at Strong Memorial Hospital. Kidney was a match and surgery was a success. We are both home recovering well and doctors and encouraged by our progress.

Thank you to everyone for all of the thoughts, prayers, and well wishes.

I guess this means the Heiligman’s and Keating’s are literally part of my life forever, and I would have it no other way.

PSA time - donors do not have to be family relations to be matches. If you know someone who needs a kidney (the list in the Rochester area is over 5 years long for deceased donor kidneys) please explore donation. If you don’t know anyone and want to make a difference, please ensure you’re an organ donor.

Very tragic story below, but it shows just how important organ donation is and how impactful it can be. Please sign up to be an organ donor & help save Iives after you're gone!! (Sorry for the morbid post)

Mom Who Died Just Days After Giving Birth Becomes '1 in a Million' Organ Donor, Fulfilling Dying Wish Kathleen Thorson suffered an intracerebral hemorrhage just five days after giving birth to her fourth child

Great story of a local man who donated a kidney to his girlfriend's father. Hopefully this will be Dan soon!

Rochester man donates kidney to girlfriend's father Rochester, N. Y. – Ashley Turcotte met her boyfriend Andrew Mayzak online. They were a perfect match, falling in love quickly. Not long into their relationship Turcotte told Mayzak about her father, Paul’s, long-term illness, and the 4-hours of dialysis he underwent three times a week, e...

Thank you to everyone reaching out and sharing this page. There have been questions about blood type matches that I wanted to clear up. I’m type O positive so I can personally accept kidneys that are also O positive or O negative. This doesn’t automatically exclude other blood types from donating and helping.

If someone is interested in donating but doesn’t match blood types (or other bio-markers) the transplant group coordinates kidney “swaps”. This is where a person willing to donate to me (but doesn’t match) is paired with another patient who needs a kidney who has someone willing to donate to them but doesn’t match. If these donors match their paired recipients, 2 kidneys are donated and 2 lives are saved.

These “swaps” greatly increase the likelihood a healthy kidney makes it to a person in need of one while ensuring the person the donor is connected to also receives the kidney they need.

Thank you all for reposting and sharing the page. I am truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in my corner. I’ve provided contact information to a couple people about getting tested as a potential donor.

If you’re interested in getting tested and finding out what donation entails, please respond to the page or message me directly.

Thank you,
Dan

Thank you to everyone who has 'liked' & shared the page. In just 24 hours, Facebook tells me we have reached 1600 people! If you haven't done so already, please invite others to like the page, that will extend our social media reach and hopefully find Dan the perfect kidney! Thank you for all your support.

Hello Facebook community,

Some of you know that at the end of 2018, at age 35, I was hospitalized with chronic kidney disease. With a lot of support from family, friends, coworkers, and the doctors and nurses at Rochester Regional Health , I’ve been able to return to my new normal lifestyle. I’ve been working full time; I’m playing sports again; and my day to day life has returned to a schedule that now includes dialysis treatments three afternoons a week.

In addition to the maintenance dialysis treatment that I get from the RRH clinic, I have been working with a transplant team at Strong Memorial Hospital to get listed on a transplant list. A transplant is the only long-term “cure” for my current condition. A transplant will help me not depend on dialysis treatments, and will give me more freedom with work, travel and return to a truly normal lifestyle. Unfortunately, the current transplant list in the Rochester area is around a 5 year wait list for a viable kidney from deceased donors. My only other option for a transplant is from a living donor. Living donors are people who volunteer to donate one of their healthy kidneys to a patient like me who needs one.

If after reading this, you’re interested in learning more about living donation, please message here directly with follow up questions or for more information about contacting the transplant unit at Strong. There are a lot of details around donor qualifications and the process that the transplant team at Strong can answer.

You can also learn more about living donation on the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) website or by contacting the NKF’s free, confidential helpline at 855.NKF.CARES (855.653.2273) or [email protected]. If you want to talk to someone who’s already donated a kidney, NKF can also help.

If you’re not interested or unable to donate, I just ask that you help spread the word that there is a need for kidney donations in this country. Please share my story; and consider signing up as a organ donor after death.

Thank you,
Dan Heizyk

Hello Facebook community,

Some of you know that at the end of 2018, at age 35, I was hospitalized with chronic kidney disease. With a lot of support from family, friends, coworkers, and the doctors and nurses at Rochester Regional Health , I’ve been able to return to my new normal lifestyle. I’ve been working full time; I’m playing sports again; and my day to day life has returned to a schedule that now includes dialysis treatments three afternoons a week.

In addition to the maintenance dialysis treatment that I get from the RRH clinic, I have been working with a transplant team at Strong Memorial Hospital to get listed on a transplant list. A transplant is the only long-term “cure” for my current condition. A transplant will help me not depend on dialysis treatments, and will give me more freedom with work, travel and return to a truly normal lifestyle. Unfortunately, the current transplant list in the Rochester area is around a 5 year wait list for a viable kidney from deceased donors. My only other option for a transplant is from a living donor. Living donors are people who volunteer to donate one of their healthy kidneys to a patient like me who needs one.

If after reading this, you’re interested in learning more about living donation, please message here directly with follow up questions or for more information about contacting the transplant unit at Strong. There are a lot of details around donor qualifications and the process that the transplant team at Strong can answer.

You can also learn more about living donation on the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) website or by contacting the NKF’s free, confidential helpline at 855.NKF.CARES (855.653.2273) or [email protected]. If you want to talk to someone who’s already donated a kidney, NKF can also help.

If you’re not interested or unable to donate, I just ask that you help spread the word that there is a need for kidney donations in this country. Please share my story; and consider signing up as a organ donor after death.

Thank you

The Big Ask, The Big Give The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is the largest, most comprehensive and longstanding organization dedicated to the awareness, prevention and treatment of kidney disease. 

Now it's easier to send Finding Dan a Kidney a message.

Dan went into the hospital on December 1, 2018 for one week. While in the hospital he received a blood transfusion (4 bags) and had a surgery to place a port to start hemodialysis. He also had a surgery to place a tube in his abdomen, as periotoneal dialysis (at-home) was the ideal option. After training and a few weeks at home, we learned that it just wasn't working. He then went in for fistula surgery on his left arm in March, and after 6-8 weeks of healing, started using the fistula for hemodialysis. He has his catheter in his chest removed on May 22 and was finally able to take a real shower!