George Blank, 59, admits to being spontaneous.
One of his most impulsive acts is probably his most enduring – donating a kidney to a complete stranger.
“I was watching a news story about a father and son,” said Blank. “One of them, I can’t remember which, donated a kidney to the other. The story mentioned the great
need for organs and it got me thinking: I had two perfectly healthy kidneys and
I just needed one. So why not help out someone who needed one?”
In 2004 he became Vanderbilt Medical Center’s first altruistic kidney donor.
Finding a way to donate “just because” was not an easy task. Many transplant agencies Blank contacted were unfamiliar
with his type of donation request and unable to assist him. But his tenacity
paid off. After weeks of thumbing through the phone book, he finally found what
he was looking for.
“Although this renal care facility was not able to assist me immediately, they
showed interest and took my contact information,” recalled Blank. “A couple of weeks passed, I got a phone call. I needed to come in for
preliminary testing so that they would have all my information on file.
“A few weeks later they had identified a potential recipient.”
Blank turned out to be a good match for a young woman who had already received a
cadaver kidney, which had failed. She had become dependent on dialysis and was
in failing health.
On Nov. 11, 2004, he donated his left kidney. The next day when he woke up the
medical team asked if he was interested in meeting his recipient.
“I was very interested,” recalled Blank. “The patient and her mother came over to my room and it was a very humbling
experience. When people ask me why would I do something like this—if you hear her story, that was the answer right there. Organ recipients are
incredible. They endure so much. I’d have to say they are the best group of people I’ve ever come in contact with.”
Blank stayed in contact with his recipient—sending her an e-mail on their anniversary asking “how is our kidney doing?”
It was soon after his altruistic donation that he realized there was still much
more to do. Others needed to learn about the benefits of donating. He began to volunteer at Tennessee Donor Services.
Aside from spending his free time educating people about the critical need for
organs and recruiting donors, Blank’s life is full. He is a high school and college soccer referee, rides his
motorcycle, pilots, scuba dives, snow skis and sky dives.
“Donating my kidney has not affected my lifestyle at all,” he said. “These are all things I did prior to donating and I am still active.”
Not only is he an example for the hundreds of folks he comes in contact with
during donor recruitment events, he said for those who say they are not
interested, he asks them: “If your child needed an organ, wouldn’t you want them to have one? Where would it come from?” he asks. “Usually they never really think of it in those terms. It’s just a way of letting them know they must take the first step.”
