I Was Going to Donate Whether I Was a Match or Not: Amanda Allyn’s Kidney Donation Story

My husband’s family has polycystic kidney disease (PKD)—it runs in their family. His mom had a transplant in 2020, his brother had one in 2023, and now my husband needs one.  

I wanted to donate to him but I was not a match, so I decided to donate through the Voucher Program. Because of my husband’s family history, we’ve always known he would need a transplant at some point. Donating was just something I thought I would have to do someday. I was very motivated to do it, and I was going to donate whether I was a match or not. 

He went on dialysis in May 2024, and I started the donor evaluation process. We had some concerns because he had had an angioplasty in 2018, so they were very careful to check everything having to do with his heart function before they would list him for a kidney. They wanted to make sure his heart would be strong enough to withstand the transplant.  

Because of that, I put my evaluation on hold because he was not listed yet, and they told me not to donate until he was ready to receive the kidney.  

Finally, in January 2026, they determined that his heart was OK and he could be listed, and I started the process again. I was approved in April, they matched me with someone in May, and I donated on May 26 at UC San Diego.  

I was able to go home within 24 hours of my surgery, which I was very pleased about because I could sleep better at home. My recovery was very easy—I feel fortunate. For the first two weeks, the worst thing was probably the soreness in my abdomen where the incisions were, which made getting in and out of bed or the car challenging.  

I am a super active person and I exercise almost every day. Within 48 hours of my surgery, I was walking. After two weeks, the soreness was much better, and I was able to ride my Peloton on low impact and take short walks around my neighborhood.  

I slowly but surely worked up to walking three to four miles. I am now five weeks out from surgery and have one more week before I can lift things over 10 pounds and get back to yoga, doing core work, and my Peloton. 

All I know about my recipient is that they live in Colorado and had been waiting for a kidney for about a year. That was cool to learn. The coordinator said that the recipient wants to reach out to me at some point, but they need to wait a year after the transplant.  

All in all, it’s been a very pleasant experience. I had known about living kidney donation before this, and even more so because of my husband’s family. Sometimes people don’t want to donate if they are not a match, but I was sure I was going to do it.  

I felt very comfortable that even if I didn’t match with my husband, my donation would still help him, as well as somebody else. And I knew they would not let me donate if doing so would compromise my health in any way. 

We were told that it could take three to six months to find my husband a match, but it was even quicker: Just over a month after my donation, they found him a match and scheduled his transplant for July 22.

About the Author

Amanda Allyn is from San Diego, California. She works as a teaching assistant in resource support and special education at a charter school. She and her husband have two adult children—a 25-year-old son and a 20-year-old daughter. She is an animal lover and has two rescue cats. In her free time, she enjoys going to the beach, taking long walks along the coast, spending time with her family, and working out, including riding her Peloton. She also loves reading and travel. She is grateful to be a living kidney donor, not only because she was able to help her husband (who now has a match), but also because she was able to help someone else in need.