LJ Dong
- Nutcracker Donor Mentor
- Living Kidney Donor
LJ’s story began in 2013, just after she got married and was looking forward to starting a family.
Then everything changed—she broke her back and had to have multiple surgeries. She spent several years in a wheelchair, facing unimaginable pain and uncertainty.
While recovering from her spine surgeries, she began having severe kidney pain and losing weight. She dropped 70 pounds, couldn’t eat, and thought she was going to die.
After pushing for more tests, she was finally diagnosed with superior mesenteric artery syndrome (SMAS), a rare disorder where the intestines are compressed between the aorta and SMA. When she was admitted to the hospital for a feeding tube, doctors told her she needed emergency surgery, a duodenojejunostomy, and that she also had Nutcracker Syndrome, a condition that compresses the left renal vein, cutting off blood flow.
Her first surgery, a left renal vein transposition, didn’t work. The pain returned, and the doctors offered to try the same procedure again. LJ didn’t think she could go through another failed surgery. She wondered: If she had to have the kidney removed, could she give it to someone?
When she was in a wheelchair, LJ had made a promise to herself: if she could walk again, she would pay it forward. This was her chance. She started calling transplant centers, determined to donate her kidney instead of discarding it. The first center she contacted turned her away, but when she called New York-Presbyterian, they scheduled her immediately.
When she met the transplant team, they told her no patient with Nutcracker Syndrome had ever donated before. LJ asked what would happen to her kidney if she didn’t donate it, and they told her it would be thrown away. LJ couldn’t accept that.
After passing the living donor evaluation, she was approved for surgery. On April 5, 2018, LJ became the first known living kidney donor with Nutcracker Syndrome. Her left kidney found a match right away, and she was able to meet her recipient before being discharged.
LJ’s medical issues prevent her from having children, but she was still able to give the miracle of life. She even commemorated the day with a tattoo on her arm, marking the moment she became Nutcracker-free.
LJ’s donation made medical history. Since then, hundreds of people with Nutcracker Syndrome have been inspired to donate after hearing her story. Her advocacy has helped thousands learn that donation can be a better option than undergoing multiple complex surgeries.
She recently created the Nutcracker Syndrome Donor Club to connect people in this community with experienced transplant centers and provide support for those exploring donation.
In 2024, LJ was crowned American Miss National Mrs., proudly representing her platform of organ donation as “The Queen with One Bean.” She is also a substance abuse counselor, grief educator, a certified medium, ordained interfaith minister, online fitness coach, Reiki practitioner, motivational speaker, and author, but her favorite title is “warrior.”
Her books, The Spirit of Hope and Think Like a Medium, Act Like a Warrior, share her message of strength and healing and reflect her belief that there is always light in the darkness. She went through something so difficult, and something so beautiful came out of it.
LJ lives in Long Island with her husband and their two rescue pets. When she’s not mentoring new donors or walking red carpets, she’s sharing her story wherever she can, reminding others that one act of courage can change countless lives and that the best is yet to come.