You Can Also Call 608-263-1384
& mention Thomas Buelow
as your potential recipient.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
& mention Thomas Buelow
as your potential recipient.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
HOW DOES THE UW HEALTH LIVING DONOR PROCESS WORK?
- STEP 1 - REGISTRATION: The initial process of being screened is simple. Fill out this registration form at UW Health. They will then send you an email with a complete screening form to be filled out and submitted online.
- STEP 2 - EMAIL WITH LINK: You will receive an email with a link to an online complete screening form. It asks in-depth questions about you and your health history (see note on confidentiality below). You also will get to a page that allows you to specify a recipient. PLEASE BE SURE to type in Thomas Buelow as your recipient. Put 01-22 in the field for birthdate for Tom. The year is 1947. Choose any answer for “how do you know the recipient”. It seems to us that it could use more options here. The coordinators assure us, it will get straightened out in the subsequent phone call review with you. In fact, if the form requires answers that you don’t know or aren’t prepared to answer, leave it blank if you can or type in ??. HINT: BOOKMARK THIS WEBSITE PAGE so you can come back here to get Tom’s info for the form.
- Confidentiality: All Information submitted on this form is confidential. Once completed, it allows UW Health transplant coordinators to access to your health records. Everything about the process is confidential. Unless you tell Tom or Karen directly (or give UW Health permission), they will never know it was you – even if your kidney is transplanted. There is no pressure and if you decide to back out, even if you told Karen or Tom, UW Health will find a graceful way to rule you out.
- STEP 3 - PHONE CALL REVIEW: Once the form is submitted, the coordinator will review the application and schedule a phone call to review it with you. If they believe you are a good candidate they will put you in a potential “Pool for Tom”, especially if they are getting multiple applications.
- STEP 4 - MEDICAL EVALUATION AT UW HEALTH IN MADISON: The coordinators will then sequence applications for further testing at UW Health in Madison based on best match potential for Tom. if you are a top candidate, they will call to schedule this day long of testing. This is probably the best day-long physical that you can have. The cost for the testing is completely covered by Tom’s insurance. The coordinator will help you get other funding to defray cost for travel and potential missed work. See DonorShield, Kidney Registry and Living Donor Assist programs for more info.
- STEP 5 - DONATE: If you pass all the tests, you can donate your kidney to save Tom’s life and potentially others. Depending on how closely you match Tom, you may be able to donate directly, which is mutually scheduled between yourself, Tom and UW Health. They may ask if you are willing to go on the National Exchange to find an even more perfect match for Tom. The closer the match, the less anti-rejection medicine he may have to take. If you are not a direct match, you will be paired with Tom on the National Registry to find each of you a perfect match. This can be immediate or take some time. Because O type kidneys are more rare, they tell us it might even be six months. The chain of trades involves more tricky scheduling, but we’ve been told that once the chain is set, they try to schedule surgeries in about three weeks.