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With the National Kidney Registry's Family Voucher Program, kidney donors can list up to five family members that don’t have any kidney disease at present. If one of those voucher holders should ever develop kidney disease in the future, they can use the voucher to go the front of the line for a living donor kidney.

Coloradans who are interested in donating a kidney, but are worried they won’t be able to help if a family member gets sick later, have the option of getting a “voucher” to shorten the wait for a loved one if they need a transplant in the future.

Steve Wilson may have only one kidney, but that hasn't slowed him down. After donating one of his kidneys a little over two years ago, he was determined to prove that the procedure didn’t change his lifestyle—so he climbed to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

In March I donated a kidney. I’d like to share a bit about the experience in the hopes of raising awareness about living donation, the desperate need for kidneys and how you could help, too.

Regular readers may remember my friend Ted, who was in need of a kidney transplant and who was going to be difficult to find a match for. A few weeks ago, Ted got a kidney. As for me, I am continuing my quest to be a living kidney donor. If I’m accepted as a donor, then I will proceed to be matched through the National Kidney Registry. My kidney will go to the person who is the best physical match for it – that is, the person in whose body the kidney is likely to live and function the longest.

Not long ago, if you wanted to donate a kidney to a loved one, the odds were usually against you. You likely weren’t the right match. Now, thanks to the power of large numbers and algorithms and the National Kidney Registry, that doesn’t matter anymore.

The average time a person spends on the waiting list for a kidney transplant is two-and-a-half to three years. But thanks to one selfless individual willing to give life to another, three people in Sacramento did not have to endure that wait. Donors and recipients who participated in a six-way ‘chain’ kidney transplant at UC Davis Medical Center had the opportunity to meet one another for the first time at a celebration held during National Donate Life Month.

Each day, an average of 13 people die while waiting for a kidney transplant, but living kidney donations can be a highly effective countermeasure. It’s a message that Mark Scotch has taken on the road. The 66-year-old is an avid long-distance cyclist and founder of The Organ Trail, a series of cycling trips spanning several states developed to raise awareness regarding living kidney donation.

When Joe Hedges collapsed into the arms of Troy Fletcher, it set into motion an incredible act of kindness.

Transplants transform lives and reshape futures. These lifesaving procedures wouldn’t be possible without a simple yet selfless decision from an organ donor.