April is National Donate Life Month and National Minority Health Month, providing an occasion to remember that African Americans are at least three times more likely than whites to develop end-stage renal disease, most commonly known as kidney failure, and to need a kidney donation.
This lingering health crisis, its urgency, and the need to solve the problem through living kidney donations are the focal points of a new 60-second video public service announcement produced by the National Kidney Foundation. The PSA features two prominent African-American women dedicated to fighting kidney disease: kidney transplant surgeon Velma Scantlebury-White, M.D., America’s first African American female transplant surgeon; and New York business executive Tracy McKibben, who donated a kidney to her mother.
“The impact on our community is greater,” said McKibben, founder and CEO of MAC Energy Advisors LLC, a global investment and consultant company; a Harvard Law School graduate; and former National Security Council official in The White House.
“Having gone to a dialysis center and seeing that the majority of the people there were African-American, I was able to immediately see the impact, but I don’t know if many people realize that. My mother was on dialysis for several years, and we just didn’t know that it was an option to be able to donate a kidney. My mother was able to have the last nine years that she had because I donated a kidney to her. I was able to give her a different life.”
The foundation hosts “The Big Ask: The Big Give” platform, which provides nationwide outreach, to increase kidney transplantation through training and tools that help patients and families find a living donor. It includes direct patient and caregiver support through a toll free help line 855-NKF-CARES (653-2273), peer mentoring from a fellow kidney patient or a living donor, online communities, an advocacy campaign to remove barriers to donation, and a multi-media public awareness campaign. All of these resources are free and designed to teach kidney patients, or their advocates, how to make a “big ask” to their friends, loved ones, or community to consider making a “big give,” a living organ donation.
“One of the things we battle with is getting African Americans to get checked every year, because if they were aware of chronic kidney disease progressing to end-stage kidney disease, there’s that possibility that they could get a living donor and avoid dialysis altogether,” said Dr. Scantlebury-White, associate director of Renal Transplant, Christiana Hospital, Newark, Delaware. “African Americans with kidney disease should know that they don’t have to be on dialysis for the rest of their lives. They should be encouraged to pursue becoming a candidate for a kidney transplant.”
Dr. Scantlebury-White said various fears beset the process. “Many people are afraid to let their family know they need a kidney or even their friends,” she said, “but they also fear that if they use their loved one they might be taking advantage of them.”
Kevin Longino, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation and a kidney transplant recipient for more than 13 years, said the initial results from the initiative are encouraging.
“We’re seeing success stories come in from people who have just gone through the program,” he said. “Participants are stepping forward to tell us they’ve found potential living donors or a living donor who is a match.”
Thirty million American adults are estimated to have chronic kidney disease—and most aren’t aware of it. One in 3 American adults are at risk for chronic kidney disease. Risk factors for kidney disease include diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and family history of kidney failure. People of African-American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian or Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease.
African Americans are three times more likely than whites, and Hispanics are nearly 1.5 times more likely than non-Hispanics, to develop end-stage renal disease (kidney failure).
To view a nearly 4-minute video featuring McKibben and Dr. Scantlebury-White, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJZ-kleYz40&t=26s.
For more information, visit www.kidney.org. “The Big Ask: The Big Give” is at https://www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors.
