Donating a Kidney: Looking Back in 2026

In December 2022, I donated a kidney to someone I didn’t know. Looking back in 2026, nearly four years later, I’m still glad I did.

There have been no lasting issues for me. I work, exercise, walk the dog, and get on with life. I’m happy with how life is going and able to spend my time on the work and activities I care about. Having one kidney has been no hindrance in my day-to-day life.

My original account, published in January 2023, describes the decision, hospital stay and first weeks of recovery. At the time, I was surprised by how quickly I felt like myself again. Getting back to my usual fitness took longer, and the annual follow-up has become a reassuring part of life since then.

Getting back to fitness

Within the first few days at home, I was walking the dog again, and I returned to work relatively quickly. From memory, it took roughly four to six months to get back to my previous level of sport, particularly my cardio after time away from my usual training.

Before donating, I was lifting some of my heaviest weights.¹ These days my cardio feels good and my strength is broadly comparable, though I do different exercises. I’m not training squats at the moment, but I can leg-press 180 kg for about 20 repetitions.

An annual check

These days, the most regular reminder of the donation is the annual follow-up. Initially, I went back to the hospital. Now I provide a urine sample and have blood drawn locally. I get the results in a phone call, when I can also ask questions, and can view them online too. So far, those checks have come back healthy.

It’s reassuring to have that yearly check, which I probably wouldn’t otherwise have had. Having one kidney remains something I’m aware of, but outside those appointments it takes up little space in my day.

Helping someone I still don’t know

The donation still gives me a good feeling when I look back at it or talk about it with someone. Effective altruism helped motivate the decision, along with reading about others who had donated. The risk and recovery looked manageable to me, with the possibility of making a substantial difference to another person’s life.

What I was told about the recipient made that less abstract. People around him had wanted to donate but hadn’t been compatible. My kidney offered a match, although as far as I know the donation didn’t start a chain of further donations.

The story appeared in an in-depth Volkskrant feature on effective altruism on 20 May 2023 (saved Volkskrant PDF), and was also mentioned in a Trouw feature about giving (Trouw PDF).

Conversations have continued since then, with family, friends, acquaintances and people considering donation themselves. I’ve been able to share the original article and talk through what it was like. I don’t know whether those conversations have led anyone to donate.

A kidney donor who doesn’t donate blood

Talking about the donation can make me sound more consistently committed to doing good than I am. I still value effective altruism and I’m happy to have helped someone, but I don’t always choose the most helpful thing I could do. I’m no longer an active blood donor, for example.

For several years I did give blood. I liked helping, but I disliked having the needle in my arm, and my blood pressure would drop afterwards. I often needed to sit for at least half an hour before leaving. The discomfort and the time it took made it a hassle.

I had practical explanations for stopping, including whether it was an effective use of my time. The needle and feeling faint were also a large part of it. I’m proud of donating a kidney, and still quite capable of being put off another useful thing by discomfort and inconvenience.

Revisiting the numbers with the computer

Going through the old article with the computer prompted me to look at the numbers again. Together, we found newer evidence and places where the old wording made a stronger claim than the sources supported.

A 2024 US registry study found 5 deaths within 90 days among 58,656 living kidney donors in 2013–2022: about 0.9 per 10,000 donations, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.3–2.0 per 10,000. This is a population estimate from the US, not a calculation of my own risk. It also measures deaths over 90 days, rather than only on the operating table.

Longer-term risks matter too. An older US study, published in 2014, estimated kidney-failure risk over 15 years at about 31 per 10,000 donors, compared with about 4 per 10,000 matched healthy non-donors. That is a small absolute risk, but an increase relative to the comparison group. It isn’t a lifetime estimate or an individual prediction.

For recipients, how long a transplanted kidney works is different from how many extra years someone lives. The Dutch Transplantation Foundation reports that 87% of kidneys from living donors are still functioning after five years. I wouldn’t translate that into a promised number of additional years for the person who received mine.

I’ve added source annotations to the original account so these explanations can be read alongside the earlier claims.

I would donate a kidney again

If you’re considering it, I’m happy to share my experience. The practical starting point in the Netherlands is the Dutch Transplantation Foundation’s information on living kidney donation. It explains the options and how to contact a transplant centre. There is also guidance on screening, recovery and follow-up, and costs and reimbursement.

For me, the recovery is several years behind me now. The checks are healthy, everyday life is good, and I’m still happy to have been able to help someone. If I were back in December 2022, knowing what I know now, I would donate a kidney again.

Footnotes

1. Lifting numbers from the 2022 recap.

   My 2022 goals recap records a 140 kg squat, a 100 kg bench press and a 200 kg deadlift, a combined 440 kg. These are the lifts recorded for that year; the 180 kg leg press mentioned here is a different exercise.

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