An Open Letter to Save
Hari Miriyala
About Me
I am Hari Miriyala and I need a kidney to live. I am married and have two beautiful children. Dialysis is now keeping me alive but dialysis is only an interim treatment. It has caused substantial fatigue and loss of quality of life, and it’s not a long-term solution. Survival of patients on dialysis is significantly reduced. Until I receive a kidney transplant, I will be unable to return to work fulltime. A living kidney transplant will restore my health and give me a long healthy life.
My work as an engineer involves building data centers and cloud computing networks. My work keeps people’s data safe from cyber attacks. Products that I designed now serve millions of people worldwide.
I am driven by the fact that there are people who need help and whom I can help.
My Interests
I have been a teacher, mentor, coach, community volunteer and an active philanthropist. Sharing my happiness with others is my way of life. Spreading a positive mental outlook and giving back to my community are my paths to satisfaction. I teach and practice yoga, mindfulness, and meditation.
With a kidney transplant, I will be able to return to work. And I will have a long life to serve my family and community as well as to bring smiles to many more faces through my philanthropic work. Together with my wife, I will be able see my lovely children grow up.
How I Help Others
Outside of my work, I have been a wellness teacher, tennis coach, active philanthropist, and a mentor. I have always shared my happiness and positivity with others. Within my means, I give to my community at every opportunity. My family and I work with an organization called World Vision International (WorldVision.org) to build a brighter future for vulnerable indigent children. Currently we sponsor three children in South Africa and India.
Through teaching meditation, mindfulness and Hatha yoga, I help others to improve their overall wellbeing, reduce their stress and build a sense of calmness and fulfillment.
What Happened to Me
Over an extended period of time I developed an untreatable disease known as IgA Nephropathy where the kidneys gradually cease to function. Both of my kidneys are affected and have almost shut down. I began dialysis treatment in the beginning of 2022 and I have been unable to return to work because of it.
How a Kidney Will Change My Life
A kidney transplant will enable me to return to my healthy life with my family. I will be able to continue my work and make further contributions to mankind through science and technology. I will be able to continue to engage in philanthropic activities including sponsoring more children and building a brighter future for them. A kidney transplant will also enable me to expand my Hatha yoga and meditation teaching to a broader community. I also plan to become an advocate for living kidney donations and to provide active support for kidney patients and living donors.
You can help me simply by sharing this webpage publicly on social media or by email. If interested in testing to see whether you would qualify to be a living kidney donor, please see https://www.nkdo.org/considering-kidney-donation. If asked, please enter my name – Hari Miriyala.
Persons interested in speaking with a living person about donating on my behalf can reach out via https://www.nkdo.org/considering-kidney-donation.
Kidney Donation Basics
A kidney transplant will restore my health and will allow me to live a normal life again. A kidney transplant will enable me to live a long healthy life and continue helping others.
Most people have two healthy kidneys but can live a normal active life with only one. For that reason, kidney transplants have become routine in saving lives of people with kidney disease. Kidney donors typically spend two days in the hospital and soon resume normal activities.
About Kidney Donation
You do not need to be a match in order to donate a kidney for me. In fact, a direct donation likely would not be an optimal match for me. But, if you are healthy and eligible to donate, you could donate a kidney that would go to another person for whom you are a better match while giving me a “voucher” for a living kidney to be donated by someone else whose kidney would be a better match me (like a trade that benefits two or more kidney patients – each patient would receive a more optimally matched kidney). The National Kidney Registry has facilitated more than 5,000 such matching transplants.
Your voucher would be activated upon your donation. I would be prioritized to receive a living kidney in an upcoming transplant chain, typically within twelve weeks after your donation.
And, since each voucher donor starts a unique “kidney transplant chain,” I would receive a well-matched kidney, and your kidney would initiate a linked chain of compatible best-matching kidney transplants enabling two or three additional kidney patients to receive their own kidney transplants. You can read more about voucher donation here: https://www.kidneyregistry.org/for-centers/voucher-program/
For convenience you could donate near your home at one of about 100 kidney transplant centers nationwide affiliated with the National Kidney Registry. To find a transplant center near you, see this list: https://www.kidneytransplantcenters.org/
And, as a voucher donor, you would be entitled to the Donor Shield suite of protections not available elsewhere. Those protections are described here: https://www.donor-shield.org/
I am working with the National Kidney Donation Organization to find a donor (NKDO is a not-for-profit organization assisting kidney donors and recipients, online at NKDO.org). To talk with a living kidney donor, please contact EJ Tamez at e.tamez@nkdo.org
If you would consider becoming a donor to save my life and the lives of others, please visit: https://nkr.donorscreen.org/register/now?src=nkdo
You Can Help Me Just by Sharing My Story
Even if you don't want to be or cannot be a kidney donor, you probably know someone who might be interested. You can help me by sharing my story on social media and by email.
Just by sharing my story you will help to save my life. Sharing would be like throwing a life preserver into the water to save me from drowning.
Sharing the link for this webpage is the same thing. The more people who know of my need, the better my chance to reach a person willing to save my life by being a kidney donor.
About Costs
Reasonable cost reimbursement is legal. Title III of The National Organ Transplant Act, 1984, Pub. L. 998-507, allows for reasonable payments associated with the removal, transportation, implantation, processing, preservation, quality control, and storage of human organs as well as the expenses of travel, housing, and lost wages incurred by the donor of a human organ in connection with the donation of that organ. While reimbursement of expenses is legal, payment for the acquisition of an organ is not. In addition, the kidney recipient’s medical insurance usually covers the donor’s and the recipient’s costs of medical care and hospitalization.
Donors donating through the National Kidney Registry as Non-Directed Donors receive Donor Shield Protections. To learn about Donor Shield Protections please watch: https://youtu.be/MIXMp4PymMI and read https://www.donor-shield.org/ .
The National Kidney Registry (NKR) offers Donor Shield protections to all donors who participate in an NKR swap or donate at a Donor Shield Center. Those protections include:
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Lost Wage Reimbursement
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Travel and Lodging Reimbursement
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Donation Life Insurance
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Donation Disability Insurance
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Legal Representation
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Coverage for Uncovered Complications
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Reimbursement for Travel, Lodging and Lost Wages for Uncovered Complications
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Living Donor Kidney Prioritization if they ever need a kidney themselves.
See https://www.kidneyregistry.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/donor_shield_trifold_2021-07-06_WEB.pdf
Read about Financial and Insurance Issues at https://www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors/financial-insurance-issues.