Clearly there are huge benefits of live kidney donation. It can be a rewarding and positive experience for someone if they see a close friend or a member of their family regain. Removing their need for fluid and dietary restrictions, giving them more free time and taking away the hassle required to go through dialysis often brings direct benefits to the donor in terms of family and social life.
However, although the vast majority of living donor kidney transplants work very well, as with everything in life, it doesn’t always go according to plan.
If you give a kidney, but it doesn’t work or only functions for a short time, it can be very difficult to cope with this.
It is important that anyone who is going to donate a kidney considers this possibility in advance, and feels ready to go ahead. In some cases clinicians know that because of the illness of the recipient, that the kidney is unlikely to last a long time, and they will be honest about this with you in advance.