**January, 18, 2010. Dr. Miram Weiss at CWRU would like to talk to living donor and/or recipients IN PERSON about their experiences. For more details, click here**

**AND Case Western Reserve University is still looking for Living Donors from anywhere in the U.S. to tell their story. For more details, click here**

The possibility of being a living donor is overwhelming; the process is even more so. Living Donor 101 strives to be a reference point for all prospective, current, or past living donors with information, research, advocacy and support.

Consequently, we will always be under construction, adding new pages and material, and spotlighting issues important to living donation.

Inside:

Take Action, the newest feature on LD101, illustrates how anyone can inform the public, media and lawmakers about living donation and living donors, and how to affect change in public policy and law to better protect and care for living donors. This section also highlights important living donor issues and what can be done about them.

Quick Facts on living donation; Myths of living donation; an explanation of Types of Living Donation; and all U.S. laws pertaining to living donation and living donors.

Despite public and media perception, there are Risks, Complications and Consequences to being a Living Donor, Physical and Psychosocial. We attempt to compile available research so an informed decision can be made, and current Living Donors can assess their own health and well-being.

The Process of becoming a Living Donor -  Reasons for becoming a living donor, Barriers/Disincentives to living donation, Blood type and HLA matches, Pros and Cons, medical evaluations and considerations, and especially the psychological and emotional aspects;

After talks about what to expect post-surgery, physically and psychologically, including the possible long-term consequences of your decision, and how to best maintain your health and protect your remaining kidney from damage and disease.

Misc. contains links, the About/Contact page, and LD101's ever-growing reference page.

"Any live donor, even if its a total mismatch is better than the best deceased donor," says Dr. Shield of St. Francis Hospital, Kansas, "Kidneys from a living donor are always healthier." *

This quote is the primary reason why the transplant community is emphasizing living organ donations rather than prevention of end-stage renal failure, improving the quality of life on dialysis, or increasing deceased donation. Unfortunately, they tend to forget that living donor organs come from LIVING donors, not just the recently deceased who annoyingly ask questions.

We are very much still under construction so if there is something you would like to see added to the site, please do not hesitate to contact us.

All proceeds from sales support the care and feeding of this site. If you would like to contribute design ideas or graphics, please contact info@LivingDonor101.com

*http://www.kwch.com/Global/story.asp?S=9365060

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