The Gift of Life: A Deep Dive into Organ Donation Advocacy

Host Jared Asch discusses organ donation—especially kidney transplants—in the Greater Bay Area with advocate Maggie Jacobs and caregiver Bob. Maggie shares how her husband, diagnosed in 2018 with FSGS, needed a kidney quickly due to 5–9 year deceased-donor waits in California; they found a living donor by widely sharing his story on social media (not directly asking for a kidney), and he is now thriving after a transplant. She later donated a kidney herself and explains dialysis burdens, plus paired exchange, swap/chain, and voucher programs, noting only about 1 in 20 questionnaire respondents may be viable donors. Bob describes his son Johnny’s renal failure discovered after dangerously high blood pressure, five years on dialysis, limits on work and travel, and efforts with CPMC/Sutter to find a donor while addressing heart and liver issues; he promotes CPMCKidneyDonor.org. They cite national need (about 90,000 waiting) and urge routine lab work because kidney disease is often caught late.