Meet Jeff States, 72-year old Kidney Donor!

As founder of the Facebook group "Kidney Transplant Donors and Recipients", which 

is a "closed group" due to privacy issues, I have been privileged to read thousands of

inspiring, life-affirming stories of triumph over adversity. Jeff States decided to become what 

we fondly have come to call an "Earth Angel" by donating one of his kidneys to his brother-in-

law at the age of 72. This is his story, in his own words. Thank you so, Jeff, for not only this 

selfless act, but also for demonstrating in a singular act of courage that there is always hope, 

and that we can live to fight another day.

Michael R. Gaudet.
Please visit : mrgaudet.com

"Earth Angel" Jeff States Donates Kidney at 72.

"I wish Michael well on his 'new' kidney journey and also wish him well with his new blog  about 'all things kidney' ."

I first met Michael on a site dedicated to kidney donors, recipients and their families. Michael

lives in Canada and I live in the United States. He is a past kidney recipient and a potential 

future kidney recipient.

I am a kidney donor. My story began when my brother-in-law was diagnosed with End-Stage

Kidney Failure in 2011. By 2012, no one in the family was a match and he had to go on

dialysis. I watched my wife suffer for her younger brother and, although I had no relationship

whatsoever with him, I told her that I would be willing to get tested. She was shocked, but

immediately called her brother. To his credit, he told his sister that I would never have to spend 

a penny during the evaluation process.

We live 1,200 miles apart from each other. At that time I knew nothing about kidney disease

or what was involved in becoming a living kidney donor. I just assumed it was the right thing to

do. My evaluation took 4-5 months. Since my wife's brother lives in New York and I live in 

Florida, I would fly to the hospital where he was on dialysis to go through the testing process.

I will be forever grateful that he had chosen the New York Presbyterian / Weill Cornell 

Medical Center in New York City. I later found out that they are one of the top three kidney

transplant centers in the United States. I was eventually approved to donate to my wife's brother

and our surgeries were scheduled for 12/6/2012. It is now almost two and a half years post-op 

and both the recipient and donor are issue free.

I have learned much about being a living donor and I have become an advocate in South 

Florida, working to get the appropriate information "out there" to the general public, who, like

I was several years ago, are almost totally ignorant about kidney disease and what it means to

become a living donor. My brother-in-law will be 59 later this year and I will be 75.


I was 72 at the time of donation and became the oldest surviving living kidney donor to go 

through the living kidney donation process in the past 53 years of the hospital's transplantation 

program.

"Earth Angel" cradles a kidney, which gestates as a prayer of invocation.