You have just learned that you, or a close family member, needs a kidney transplant.
If this is your first exposure to the subject, it is reasonable to expect that you are upset by fear of the unknown. Most people are not at all familiar with the subjects of kidney disease, dialysis and transplantation, and ignorance breeds fear.
Your understandable worries, however, are not justified. Kidney transplantation is a much simpler and easier procedure than most people who don’t know the facts of the matter think. With modern medical advances and enormous accumulated experience, thousands of kidney transplants take place each year all over the world, most with complete success.
More than 98% of the recipients return to almost complete health, without significant restrictions on activities and diet.
The Organ Donor – Alive or Dead?
The waiting time for organ donation from someone who is brain-dead can be very long – between five and seven years in Israel today, depending on blood-type and other factors. The waiting list grows longer each year.
Even though transplantation from brain-dead donors is legally possible in a few (generally third-world) countries, it is not available to all patients. Some are too sick to travel and others may be rejected due to blood-antibodies and other such problems. Medical standards in those countries are generally much lower than in Israel and their transplantation practices would not be acceptable in Israel.