My name is Bil and I have kidney disease.

So I've got kidney disease. It's not the end of the world. It's not like I live with pain all day or even a few minutes a day... if you see me you'll say "he doesn't look sick to me." As diseases go... I got a pretty good one. No pain, no suffering, relatively easy to control with fairly harmless meds. When kidney disease gets bad enough you can get a kidney transplant and buy yourself another 5,10 maybe even 20 years of life. And if you do need a new kidney, the good news is everyone has two but only needs one to survive and live a normal healthy life... so literally everyone out there can be a donor for a kidney... lets see someone with a heart disease or liver disease boast about that stroke of anatomical luck. So I'll take my kidney disease as the lemons life has handed me to turn into lemonade.

My kidney disease was diagnosed in 2009 and at that time it was suggested that I probably wouldn't need dialysis ( a treatment that keeps you alive while you wait for a new kidney) or a new kidney until I was in my sixties. Unfortunately for some reason my disease has advanced rapidly and at 47 I'm already at the point where I need that new kidney.

I mentioned Dialysis above, there's another stroke of good luck. Dialysis allows one to stay alive with non functioning kidneys for several years while waiting to receive a new kidney. And there are even two types of dialysis. So the options are plentiful and the general outlook is good. But still... realistically speaking... I'm sick and there's much to be done to guarantee that I get to live to see my seven year old daughter graduate from college, meet the person of her dreams... marry and have children of her own.

There are close to 100,000 people in the united states waiting for a new kidney. Each year approximately 4,000 organ donor's untimely and unfortunate death allow for approximately 8,000 people on that list to get their new kidneys. I'm told that approximately 50% of those people on the waiting list will come up with a living donor. That leaves approx 42,000 still waiting and each year more than 5,000 of those will die while waiting. And more than 2,000 are added to the list each month.

Today I'm just a man trying to get on the list. Once on it I hope to be one of those who finds his own living donor. They tell me the best statistics for life expectancy is with a living donor. I think this is a fairly reasonable goal.

My name is Bil and I have kidney disease.