Living Kidney Donor Sought for Jeff Blumenfeld, FN’89, FRGS

If there is one thing we know as explorers, it’s that teamwork is an integral part of the success of any expedition. I’m writing you today because we have a member of our team, our Explorers Club family, that may need our help – Rocky Mountain Chapter Chair, Jeff Blumenfeld.

Since joining the Club in 1989, Jeff  has been to Nepal on two cataract missions, volunteered in Antarctica with Students on Ice, and wrote two books – one on  voluntourism, the other on expedition funding. For 27 years he’s supported exploration through a free newsletter and website: expeditionnews.com. You might be familiar with his column in The Explorers Journal. At TEC, he’s also a judge for EC50, is on the Legal Committee helping us investigate trademark violations, and is a former member of Flag & Honors and former Director of Communications.

Now he needs our help. After a 13-year battle, he learned recently that he’s going to need a kidney transplant from a living donor, otherwise the wait from a deceased donor is five years at least. He passed a battery of tests at University of Colorado Health, and has also been registered with the Miami Transplant Institute, and New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medicine Transplant Center. He’s also been accepted into the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and the National Kidney Registry which runs a paired exchange program.

If you or someone you know might be able to help, start with this confidential questionnaire from the UC Health Transplant Center in Denver:

https://uchealthlivingdonor.org/

Jeff’s Medicare pays the donor’s medical expenses, including a full physical and lab tests to ensure the donor is healthy.

For information from the National Kidney Foundation on being a living donor see:

https://www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonor

Becoming a living donor is low risk, according to the Mayo Clinic:https://www.newswise.com/articles/mayo-clinic-study-confirms-living-kidney-donor-surgery-is-low-risk-for-most-patients

Please share this living donor search with your social network and let’s help Jeff keep up the good work. Jeff can be reached at jeff@blumenfeldpr.com.

Regards,