Kidney Chain ‘Bridge Donor’ Author Hopes To Inspire Others Through Personal Story

By Donna Cope

It took four long years for Kelly Berwager to build up enough confidence to share her story of kidney donation, but now she hopes her personal experiences will encourage others to consider giving the gift of life through her new book, “Bridge Donor: The Journey of a Living Organ Donor.”

In 2014, Berwager volunteered to donate one of her kidneys to a friend who was suffering from lupus, and who had kidney failure.

“I was praying that someone’s kidney would come available for my friend,” she said. “I struggled with the decision, but I felt compelled to donate.”

However, Berwager found out later that summer she was not a match.

“It was awful,” she said. “But my transplant coordinator asked if I wanted to go forward in the process of donation anyway for someone else. We went back and forth for about a month, and then I finally said yes.”

Berwager underwent her kidney donation surgery in September 2014 with Michael Hannaway, M.D., professor of surgery and surgical director of Kidney Transplantation as part of what is now the longest kidney transplant chain in the world – the UAB Kidney Chain – and became friends with her recipient almost immediately.

To read the full article, please visit the Alabama NewsCenter website.

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