How can you donate?

To be a transplant donor, you need to be at least 18 years old and in pretty good health. The first step is to call the transplant team at the number below. They will arrange to have your blood drawn at your local health care provider – you don’t need to be in L.A. for any of the testing. A person who has already been tested, but did not match, told me the process was professional, efficient, easy and that the team sent her a form for  insurance that took care of all the costs of the testing – costs are covered by my insurance program.

I am blood type O negative. That doesn’t mean you can’t donate if you’re not “O.” There are thousands of people who have already found willing donors who do not match their own needs. There is a great program that lists these donors on a national level so that people can exchange kidneys. This is a really cool deal wherein you could give your kidney to another person who has a kidney for me – the surgeries happen at the same time, two people walk away with new leases on life and two walk away with the satisfaction of having “given life.” So, please, if you would like to donate, call my team – anyone can help.

My transplant team is at the world-renowned UCLA Kidney Transplant Center.

There is a hotline for transplant donors at UCLA.

1-866-672-5333.

UPDATE! I have just heard from Intake Specialist Layla (lie-la), who has given me permission to give you her DIRECT PHONE! If you would like to find out about being a donor, or have not heard back from UCLA, please give Layla a call. 310-794-0719

Below is a link for UCLA’s donor intake form.

http://transplants.ucla.edu/workfiles/kidneydonor/Living_Donor_Intake_Form.pdf