===Unveiling a BRAND NEW DESIGN for our Online Store!!===

[okarol]

Brand new! Dying for a Kidney - new design for the Online Store!
This artwork was designed custom for IHD by a New York tattoo artist named Brian Wren. He has donated his time and all he asks in return is to see photos of people wearing his design!

Some people may say that dialysis patients are not dying - and this is true. And others will wait and wait, and some may die, without having a transplant. The design will no doubt stimulate conversations about organ awareness.

Here's the link to this product at our store http://www.cafepress.com/ihatedialysis/6863056

[paris]

Love it!  Would make a great tattoo.  Please let Brian know we appreciate his time and his talent.   

[kimcanada]

I love it, what would you do with it, could it be put on a hoodie?

[tyefly]

   I am looking for more bags to fill at the grocery store..   you know the re-useable ones......   That design would be great..... on tee shirts, hats, just about anything......     great idea.....

[okarol]

I love it, what would you do with it, could it be put on a hoodie?

I think there is one on that page - but it's not the zipper type -let me know what you'd like and I will add it.

   I am looking for more bags to fill at the grocery store..   you know the re-useable ones......   That design would be great..... on tee shirts, hats, just about anything......     great idea.....

I have added a tote bag - thanks!

[okarol]

Two hoodies 

http://www.cafepress.com/ihatedialysis/6863056

[epowife]

 

Please tell Brian that it is frickin sweet!! I really do appreciate him donating his talents to IHD...that is really awesome.

[Rerun]

Great idea and beautiful design. But, since I'm not on the transplant list, I will not die waiting.  That shall be on my tombstone "she did not die waiting".  I wait for nothing.  I will die waiting to win the stupid Mega Million which I did not win again tonight.  I got one number!  That will not buy a kidney.

                                                                 

[kitkatz]

Rerun join the club.  Not waiting to die, too busy living!

[Rerun]

Rerun join the club.  Not waiting to die, too busy living!

I like that! 

[YLGuy]

VERY nice design!  I love it! Okay, who is going to actually get that design inked on them?!That would be sweet.  The advice I got before I got my first tattoo: Don't EVER get a tattoo...but if you do, get many! (I only have 2: a sacred heart and my kids names (God and family))

Rerun: Nobody won.   The jackpot is now $325 million nad the drawing is Friday.

[okarol]

New items available here http://www.cafepress.com/ihatedialysis/6863056

Here's Jenna!

[draven]

Love the tattoo design.

Awesome i want a t-shirt. can i have it delivered to south africa.

If not I will have to ask my sister in connecticutt to order it and she can post it to me.

[thegrammalady]

i'm not on the transplant list either, however i think wearing it would give me opportunity to talk a lot about organ donation. i think it's great.

[YLGuy]

If not I will have to ask my sister in connecticutt to order it and she can post it to me.

Where in Connecticut does she live?

[draven]

in New Fairfield. i havent been there. the last time i was in u.s.a was 10 years ago. she lived in Walnut Creek, Near San Francisco back then.

[okarol]

Re: Dying for a Kidney

  We have sold 12 shirts and a tote bag!

[Hanify]

Love the tattoo design.

Awesome i want a t-shirt. can i have it delivered to south africa.

If not I will have to ask my sister in connecticutt to order it and she can post it to me.

I ordered a sweatshirt and it was delivered to NZ no problem.

[Sluff]

Awesome.

[okarol]

I recently heard from a member who said this design upset her, that it is very negative. She felt that it does not accurately describe the dialysis patients because they can live long, healthy lives on dialysis and this is just scaring people.

I told her how the design came to be and since I've now written it up, and she said she wished I had posted the story at the time, here it is:

Re: "Dying for a kidney" design. Thought you might be interested in the story behind it. A dialysis patient wrote to IHD (Epoman did original designs when asked, I got her message in our admin email.) She requested the design for herself. She has had 8 vascular accesses over the last 17 years and is out of options. Fluids from the chest catheter now leak into her head and neck causing painful swelling. She is afraid of the future as there is nothing more the vascular docs can do for her. She also cannot do PD due to peritoneal infections. So you see, it is not always out of negativity that these things are born, but out of reality. I hope she finds a kidney soon.

[monrein]

I think it's important always to remember that words have multiple meanings that can be open to interpretation and I see this clearly in the case of this design.  Some people do indeed literally die while waiting for a kidney but we also commonly use the expression "dying for" to express a very strong desire for something.  Every afternoon, when I was working, several of us reached a point where we were dying for a coffee!  None of us literally died without it but we still used the phrase. 
Same goes for the expression "I hate dialysis".  Most people talk about "hating" some things...my husband for example "hates" coffee as much as I find myself "dying" for a cup sometimes. 

The world would be tedious indeed if we only ever spoke in totally literal, perfectly accurate ways.  I like the slogan but if someone doesn't then there are others that might be better suited to them.

Thanks for the story behind the design.

[paul.karen]

Does the story behind the shirt have a happy ending?
Cause it is a sad and scary story to say the least.  I couldnt imagine how she must have felt or be feeling.

[okarol]

Paul, I haven't heard back from the woman. She is not an IHD member but we exchanged emails last year.

Monrein - you're right. I am dying for coffee right now!

And if someone says "I HATE the dentist" everybody gets it. No one says "Oh you're being negative." It's a shared experience. We do what is necessary in many parts of life, but it doesn't mean we love it.