The organ donation system is broken, but we can fix it.
If a person has to circumnavigate the government system by appealing to the generosity of strangers, the system isn't working. |
 | | Musubu Hagi |
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On New Year's Eve 2022, I woke up to the news that my friend Tonya Ingram had died. Tonya was a young poet whom I met when I was working on a story as a video producer for Times Opinion. She was looking for a kidney on Instagram and I was looking for her. |
My story was about the broken organ donation system and how thousands of people were dying on wait lists because of the inadequacies of the government contractors in charge of recovery — and the failure of the government as a whole to hold them accountable. Altogether, these contractors could be recovering up to 28,000 more organs a year, a significant number when 11,000 patients die waiting each year. Tonya represented the patients who were trying to circumnavigate the wait list, which was 10 years long in California, where she lived. |
When I first met her, she was 27 years old and full of energy and promise, but dialysis was arduous and weighing on her. She used to travel across the country performing poetry in front of theaters of fans, but her life changed dramatically when her kidneys did. |
It's been three and a half years since the video published and the system is still broken. Just last month, Tonya died of complications from kidney failure. This is gutting to write and it's the topic of my guest essay today. |
This topic is personal: I had two liver transplants when I was 11. When I needed my first transplant, my doctors told me that my wait would be long. They were concerned I wouldn't get an organ in time. Thankfully, my dad stepped in as a living donor and saved my life. I was lucky. |
As someone born into illness, I've seen many young, sick friends die. It's always horrible, but Tonya's death was preventable. She was the victim of a broken system, a system she tried so hard to change. When I think about her death I really struggle, because we can do something to move the needle. Tonya did her part. Now it's on us. |
| READ KENDALL'S FULL ESSAY HERE | | |
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