Searching For The Perfect Match

Searching For The Perfect Match

Monday, Jan 07, 2008 - 10:09 PM Updated: 12:28 AM

By Steve Sbraccia
General Assignment Reporter
WNCN-TV

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- A Chapel Hill man who has had no luck trying to obtain a donated kidney through the usual channels is trying a new technique, which some say is rather controversial. He’s become a member of a website that hopes to link up live kidney donors and recipients.

LINK http://www.matchingdonors.com/life/index.cfm

Monday, Mike Handy bustles about the UNC student bookstore in Chapel Hill. The 49- year-old student manager is having a good day. But sometimes the student manager at the store has bad days; especially if he's just had dialysis.

“Certain days after dialysis it can make your blood pressure drop,” he said. “You get dehydrated and you get very lethargic.”

Because Mike has polycystic kidney disease, he's got to have three hours of dialysis three times a week. His kidneys are failing because PKD as it's called, allows cysts to grow on his kidneys gradually shutting them down.

He's on a kidney donor waiting list, but it’s a long shot.

“The average wait time for a person with Type O blood is four to six years,” he said. “There's a long wait and for some reason it's longer in North Carolina.”

Because Mike's got O-negative blood, finding a match is that much more difficult.

His dad has the same condition and had his life saved after one of Mike's brothers donated a kidney to him.

Mike had hoped his other brother Tim would donate a kidney to him, but it turned out to be impossible.

“He had a couple of cysts on his kidney, so he wasn't able to do it. That was a very bad moment when I found that out,” he said.

Because the average the wait for a deceased donor is six years, Mike turned to a newly created website to try and find a live donor.

“It's somewhat controversial because strangers are donating,” he explained. “There can be issues about why they're doing it.”

And he said, “It’s better to get a living donor for many reasons including medically.”

Mike says he's going public with his story to help raise awareness about the scarcity of kidney donations.

“There are a lot of people I see at dialyses who need a donor,” he said. “Before I had this problem I never would have thought about the fact that there are all kinds of folks walking around needing a kidney.”

http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2008-01-07-0032.html