Finding out if you're a match starts off with a simple questionnaire to see if you are qualified to be a donor. If you qualify, you will then be asked to do a tissue typing test, where The Ohio State University Transplant Center will mail you a mouth swab kit to do and send back.

That's the biggest hurdle to get through right now in finding a match. If it turns out that you're a match, there are additional screening evaluation steps that you'll be asked to complete, such as blood work and scans.

You'll be asked if you will be donating to someone specific - please enter "Pasada Khumprakob" (my legal name) and birthday 04/29/1980.

Please note that the process is completely anonymous. If you're on the fence about it, remember that you can drop out at anytime and the information will not be shared with me. This is a big ask, and unless you tell me, I don't know who has and has not been screened.

If the questionnaire declines you, please reach out to The Ohio State University Transplant Center, as they've said their questionnaire can be a little 'over the top' with screening (614-293-6724, option 3).

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Nope! Healthy adults can live a normal life with one functioning kidney. Potential living donors are fully evaluated to ensure that donation would not put their health at risk.

You must be 18 years of age, in good health, with normal kidney function and no major physical or mental illnesses. There are a number of other factors to consider, all of which will be addressed during the evaluation process should you decide to become a living kidney donor.

Typical full recovery is 4-6 weeks, but most people are back to normal activities after a week or so.

Surgery is usually performed laparoscopicly, meaning smaller incisions requiring a shorter hospital stay for faster recovery. Most donors are able to go home the day after surgery. 

Driving may resume one to two weeks after surgery, and depending on the occupation, can usually return to work in two to four weeks. For the first six weeks, donors are restricted from lifting anything over five to ten pounds. After that six-week period, all normal life activities can be resumed.

All medical expenses are paid by me. Not a dime is billed to you.

If you went through the process and found out you're not a match, first of all thank you so much! I can't imagine that was an easy decision, but I really appreciate that you would do that for me.

If you still want to donate, The Ohio State University Transplant Center has a "Transplant Chain" program. A kidney transplant chain essentially means being a donor for someone else, in exchange for one of their donors being a match to me. You can learn more about this program and read about a 10-way chain here.

As of September 2025, I am officially on the waitlist. The average time on the waitlist is roughly 3.5 years, not accounting for the difficulty in finding a match for me.

Waiting on a kidney comes with a series of challenges, from reduced quality of life to dialysis, infection, and more. Finding a living donor eliminates a lot of these challenges, but more importantly living donor kidneys last twice as long as cadaver donations.

Overall, living donation yields much better health outcomes, but I'm looking at all possible options.