“I feel like for me, life has always been a bit of a battle – just to stay healthy. And I am up for that battle!“

Margaret Daniella

In Need of a Kidney Donor

My name is Margaret Daniella, and I am asking for your help to save my life.

I am a mother of twins, a wife, and love spending time with my family. I have always loved sports, and played tennis at college. I work out (weights, Pilates…), go for walks and hikes, and work with glass and tiles to create stained glass and mosaic art, and look forward to the change of seasons. I used to work in healthcare full time, but had to stop working when I got too sick.

I have polycystic kidney disease (PKD), a genetic trait, and therefore have had kidney disease most of my life. I received my first transplant in 2000 from my sister who does not have PKD, and it lasted 21 years, which is great. I am forever grateful for her gift of life. Transplants don’t last forever unfortunately. My second transplant was during COVID, and was a slightly damaged kidney, and it only lasted 5 years. But I was so appreciative because I did not have to go on dialysis.

I have qualified for a third transplant, and recently started home hemo-dialysis in July, which has been very challenging. I feel like dialysis is keeping me alive, but barely. So I am waiting, and hoping, for a living kidney donor so that I can be with my loved ones a bit longer. I am willing to wait for the right person, a person who wants to donate to me and save my life. 

Some of my wishes and dreams are to see the leaves change in Vermont, visit my nephew in California, spend time with my kids without having to curtail a visit because I have to get back home to do a dialysis treatment. I would love to go back to work, even part time. I would be able to continue my work as a kidney patient advocate, which has been put on hold because of dialysis. I dream of feeling healthy again, and re-joining life!

 
 

  • Step 1

    Please contact Yale New Haven Transplantation Center and Center for Living Organ Donors by calling 866-925-3897. You will need my name: Margaret Daniella Duke 

I am looking for a living donor. I am asking this of both friends and strangers, because I have no immediate family that is able to donate. Living donor transplants generally have better outcomes and can be arranged at a time convenient for both parties. I am compatible with any blood type. 

The most difficult part of waiting for a transplant is not knowing what the future holds. I hope to live a normal, healthy life, and enjoy time with my loving family. The first step is to contact my transplant center using the information in the box above. The entire process is strictly confidential and medical costs are covered by my insurance.

Please review existing Living Donor Benefits/Rights to determine which apply to you.

Thank you for considering saving my life.  

With deep gratitude,

Margaret Daniella