[Linkpost] “My kidney donation” by Molly Hickman

This is a link post.<p> I donated my left kidney to a stranger on April 9, 2024, inspired by my dear friend @Quinn Dougherty (who was inspired by @Scott Alexander, who was inspired by @Dylan Matthews). By the time I woke up after surgery, it was on its way to San Francisco. When my recipient woke up later that same day, they felt better than when they went under. I'm going to talk about one complication and one consequence of my donation, but I want to be clear from the get: I would do it again in a heartbeat.</p><p data-internal-id="ftnt_ref1">I met Quinn at an EA picnic in Brooklyn and he was wearing a shirt that I remembered as saying "I donated my kidney to a stranger and I didn't even get this t-shirt." It actually said "and all I got was this t-shirt," which isn't as funny. I went home [...]</p> <p><i>The original text contained 6 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.</i> </p><p>---</p> <p><b>First published:</b><br/> July 9th, 2025 </p> <p><b>Source:</b><br/> <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/yHJL3qK9RRhr82xtr/my-kidney-donation?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Source+URL+in+episode+description&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/yHJL3qK9RRhr82xtr/my-kidney-donation</a> </p> <p><strong>Linkpost URL:</strong><br><a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/out?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcuttyshark.substack.com%2Fp%2Fmy-kidney-donation-story" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://cuttyshark.substack.com/p/my-kidney-donation-story</a></p> <p>---</p> <p>Narrated by <a href="https://type3.audio/?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Narrated+by+TYPE+III+AUDIO&utm_term=ea_forum&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TYPE III AUDIO</a>.</p> <p>---</p><div style="max-width: 100%";><p><strong>Images from the article:</strong></p><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/cea8b94d2b52ed9161c7c1515cf4e5a7062415bab5799f05ea528d3ad4fe32bb/gqvagvjiq3nkgfnpqx8p" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/cea8b94d2b52ed9161c7c1515cf4e5a7062415bab5799f05ea528d3ad4fe32bb/gqvagvjiq3nkgfnpqx8p" alt="How a kidney donor chain works. Source: National Kidney Registry" style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/350d875eb150e97b4521b7129e3adb41256929f2e2c5c36a618512a472c9b991/qrnpenwcocravd6wiqls" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/350d875eb150e97b4521b7129e3adb41256929f2e2c5c36a618512a472c9b991/qrnpenwcocravd6wiqls" alt="Me, drugged up, shortly after surgery, very excited about the Piazza San Marco" style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/f8e20a89c59f6c7c795750eaf8c69f7a63d0f881df2f037e8bdf870233d30666/rraf0apvkxnuoduaizyi" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/f8e20a89c59f6c7c795750eaf8c69f7a63d0f881df2f037e8bdf870233d30666/rraf0apvkxnuoduaizyi" alt="Kidneyversary cake. Kidney frosting art by yours truly (cake and flowers by Wegman's)" style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><p><em>Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try <a href="https://pocketcasts.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Pocket Casts</a>, or another podcast app.</em></p></div>