Ohio Man Turns to Facebook for Kidney Donation

[okarol]

Ohio Man Turns to Facebook for Kidney Donation

By Annette Lawless | annette.lawless@fox8.com
Fox 8 News Reporter

7:07 PM EDT, July 26, 2011

Randy Wright is in need of a kidney, and he's turning to the most unlikely place for help, Facebook.

Wright, of Collins, started a Facebook Fan page earlier this year, Kidney for Randy Wright, Donate Life.

"Need "O" kidney," reads the sidebar of his fan page. "Will swap two "A" kidneys for one "O". Stay tuned in my quest for a kidney, and please Donate Life."

In 2009, Wright fell off a tractor. It was a moment that changed his life.

"I started urinating blood, and I went to the hospital," he said. "I found out I had polycystic kidney disease and triple-A, so I to get on the list in Cleveland, I had to get all this fixed."

The 45-year-old has struggled to find a type-O match through family and local hospitals.

"It's really hard. Just from falling off a tractor, I found out all this," he said. "That's a lot to take in in one day. Ever since then, it's getting worse, but it's as good as I can get."

During his home hemodialysis sessions, Wright logs onto his Facebook page, where he shares stories and talks to others like himself.

He and his friend, Elizabeth Wolfe, are spreading the world online about the need for donors. About 110,000 patients are in need of a transplant, according to Donate Life America.

"So many people are waiting, so many of them," Wolfe said. "There are thousands of Randy's out there."

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 19 Americans die each day waiting for an organ transplant-most of them waiting for kidneys. The median national waiting time for a kidney donation is 1,219 days. Other take up to one year.

"I hope someone will donate a kidney to me or help other people, getting the stories out there," he said. "I just want to get the word out to donor life, donate organs. There's a lot of people in need of organs, and I just want to help people get organs."

http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-news-facebook-for-kidney-donation,0,5943527.story