Kidney Blogging, Special Heart-Warming Sports and Style New Year's Edition
Reader Tom Royce sends this link to what he rightly calls "a great kidney story" from the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The AJC's John Mannaso recounts how Thrashers fan Brandi Shaw was inspired to donate a kidney to another fan she knew only from his postings on a message board devoted to the team. Andy Freeman had added "Does anybody have an extra kidney they can give me?" to his sig line. The surgery was done in August. There's more on the Atlanta Thrashers site here. I doubt that Dr. Douglas Hanto would approve, but, fortunately, he didn't have to.
Meanwhile, Sydney hairdresser Jennie Maley is preparing to donate a kidney to her client Bernadette Keegan, who has been on dialysis since 2003. "I was blow-waving Bernie's hair one Saturday and I asked her what she was up to that night and she said she had a 'hot date' --at the renal unit. I thought of her sitting there, all on her own," Maley told a local reporter, recalling how she decided to volunteer. The surgery is scheduled for January 31. According to the Daily Telegraph story, here are 1,500 Australians waiting for kidneys, with an average wait of four years.