Meet the world's most tech-savvy kidney

Meet the world's most tech-savvy kidney
USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO SPUR ORGAN DONATION

By Chris Campbell | Posted: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 9:30 am | 1 Comment

• Online at Twitter @emilyskidney and facebook.com/emilys.kidney.
• If you're interested in donating, call Barnes-Jewish Hospital at 314-362-5365.

The kidney is an amazing organ. It removes waste, regulates blood pressure and maintains calcium levels.
It can also blog, tweet, send email and "friend" you on Facebook.
Skeptical?
Then you haven't met Emily's McFarland's kidney.
Of course, neither has she.
McFarland, 33, was born with a genetic kidney disease.
The Mehlville resident managed to put it out of mind until freshman year of college.
"That's one of the dangers of kidney disease," McFarland said. "It can be very asymptomatic."
McFarland began feeling "deathly ill" while on campus. A medical checkup revealed her kidneys were failing.
"I went on dialysis the next day," she said.
After nine months, McFarland received a kidney from her mother.
It lasted 10 years, within the normal range for a kidney from a living donor.
"But it still was a shock when the doctor said the disease was attacking the new kidney," McFarland said.
After a high antibody count ruled out potential donations from other family members, McFarland went back on dialysis in 2007.
This time the treatment was more difficult. She was an adult with a full slate of responsibilities. She had to worry about bills, insurance and her job.
Three days a week, McFarland had dialysis at 6 a.m., arriving at her job in the Mehlville School District by 10 a.m.
Though the treatment made her feel like "crawling back into bed," McFarland was determined to live as normally as possible.
But to do that, she needed a new kidney.
She was on the waiting list for a cadaver kidney, but that could take years.
Twelve family members and friends were tested, but none were suitable.
Because of her elevated antibodies, 98 percent of potential donors can be ruled out.
That meant McFarland needed a large pool to draw from.
But she had no idea how to go about it.
All twelve previous donors had volunteered their services. And there were currently no more volunteers.
"I had never asked anyone," McFarland said. "How do you ask someone for an internal organ?"
You don't. You have a social media-savvy, anthropomorphic kidney do it for you.
That was the plan developed by Mandi Morris and Maria Perotti, two close friends of McFarland's.
Morris is a talent agent. Perotti works in marketing.
Together they used their creative talents to create "Emily's Kidney," a blogging, Facebooking, Tweeting social media maven with one goal in mind — finding a match for McFarland.
Perotti said the idea just "popped into my mind."
"I called Emily and asked her what we could to do help her," Perotti said. "I didn't want to get her kicked off the waiting list."
McFarland, who wasn't told about the plan, remembered the call as "cryptic."
"I told them they could do anything except buy me a kidney," she said.
Morris and Perotti went to work, creating a cute kidney character dedicated to blogging, posting and tweeting about McFarland and other organ donation information.
"We put the whole thing together in a couple of days," Morris said. "Within a week we had 250 Facebook friends."
The idea is simple: the kidney is harnessing the power of social media to "find" its way to Emily.
McFarland became emotional when she saw the result.
"I was so thankful," she said.
True to social media form, things began to snowball.
Emily's Kidney has 2,400 Facebook friends and 300 Twitter followers.
McFarland attributes the success to the kidney's breezy, clever writing style.
More importantly, 25 people have called Barnes-Jewish Hospital to begin the testing process.
While kidney donation is major surgery, most of us have one to spare. The human body can function normally with one kidney.
"It's the only organ where we're born with 200 percent capacity," McFarland said.
That doesn't mean donation is any less of a gift.
It can be a life saver.
McFarland was blown away by the response — and grateful to her two friends.
"I've never asked anyone for a kidney," she said. "They are asking for me. And I have a feeling they are saving my life."
Perotti said she's pulling for her friend, and encourages anyone interested to get tested.
"You couldn't give a kidney to a nicer person," she said.

http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/metro/news/cc17a176-5425-5761-8ae9-aecafc79c683.html