Living with kidney disease is extremely difficult. The waiting list for a donor kidney is long, which is why some kidney patients start looking for one themselves. They often use Facebook or other social media in the hope of finding someone with a golden heart and the perfect match. How meaningful is that?
1.7 million people in our country have chronic kidney damage. In thousands of them there is even serious kidney damage and the kidneys are in danger of failing. Dialysis or even better, a donor who donates a healthy kidney, is of vital importance.
Figures from the Kidney Foundation show that two thousand kidney patients are added to the Netherlands every year. Kidney failure occurs when your kidneys function less than fifteen percent. If they stop working at all, you die.
With kidney dialysis, waste products are filtered from the blood three to four times a week. A transplant will really help you, but a donor kidney is not easily available. There are now 923 people on the list and that number is growing every year. They all hope for a new kidney.
“Search for a savior through social media is more or less accepted.”
Some people are so desperate that they actively look for a donor themselves. They place an appeal on social media, such as Facebook. Sometimes with success. Such as with Dénis van Vliet from Tilburg. He searched for three years for that one lottery ticket and finally Marja came forward, determined to help the critically ill Tilburg resident. The donor kidney worked well and Dénis is enjoying life again.
Figures from NTS (Dutch Transplantation Foundation) show that 11 percent of the number of kidney donations from a living donor are made by someone who is not a family member. “It concerns someone from their own circle of friends or acquaintances or someone they get to know through social media,” says Martijn Ubbink of the Kidney Foundation.
According to the Kidney Foundation, doctors often advise people who are so ill that their kidneys are in danger of failing to find a suitable donor themselves. Searching for a saving angel via social media is a more or less accepted route.
“It’s quite a step because someone exposes a lot of themselves.”
“It’s quite a step because someone then reveals a lot of themselves,” says Ubbink. “It reflects the fear of kidney patients that a donor kidney will take a long time.”
Moreover, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack, because not every kidney suits every patient. There must be a match between the blood group and tissue type of the donor and the patient. The chance of a good match is greatest among family members.
It is important for such a call that someone has thought about it carefully and carefully. “Some people feel uncomfortable about it. They prefer not to put personal information on the internet,” says the Kidney Foundation. “Others enjoy taking action themselves and being able to reach so many people.”