Is finding your own living donor legal?

Yes. Living donation to someone you know, or to someone you meet through a registry, is legal and routine in the United States. What is illegal under the National Organ Transplant Act is buying or selling an organ — no money may change hands for the organ itself, and every donor is evaluated independently by a transplant centre.

How long does matching take?

There is no set timeline. Some patients hear from a potential donor quickly; for others it takes many months and several conversations that do not proceed. A clear, personal profile with a photograph tends to help.

What makes a good patient profile?

Specific and human. A photograph, a plain explanation of your kidney disease, and a clear sense of who depends on you and what you would do with more time. Honesty about the difficult parts reads as more credible than a polished version.

Does patient membership cost money?

Yes. Published options at the time of writing are a $49 seven-day trial, $295 for 30 days, $441 for 90 days, or $595 for a lifetime membership. MatchingDonors invites patients who cannot afford membership to call 781-821-2204 to discuss options, and states there is no charge for patients from the United Kingdom.

Should I stay on the waiting list while I search?

Yes. Searching for a living donor does not affect your place on the deceased-donor list, and the two paths run in parallel. Most transplant teams will encourage you to pursue both.

How to Find a Living Kidney Donor

Waiting for a deceased-donor kidney can take years. Learning how to find a living kidney donor is the one part of this that is genuinely within your control.

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15,000+ registered potential donors
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If you are trying to find a living kidney donor, the maths is worth understanding first. More than 90,000 people are waiting for a kidney in the United States, and the average wait runs three to five years at most centres — longer in some parts of the country. A living donor is the one route that does not depend on that queue.

Why a living donor is worth pursuing

It is not only about speed. A kidney from a living donor lasts about 15 to 20 years on average, against 8 to 12 years for a kidney from a deceased donor. Living-donor surgery can also be scheduled, which means it can sometimes happen before you ever need dialysis.

How MatchingDonors works

You create a patient profile describing your situation in your own words.
Potential donors browse. More than 15,000 potential living donors are registered on MatchingDonors.
Someone reaches out, or you are matched on medical fit.
Your transplant centre takes over. Every medical decision — compatibility, evaluation, whether the donation goes ahead — is made by the transplant centre, not by MatchingDonors.

MatchingDonors does not perform or arrange medical care. It is an introduction service. Your transplant centre evaluates every potential donor independently, and no donation proceeds without their approval.

Telling your story well

Your profile is the whole of your case to a stranger. The profiles that work are specific and human rather than desperate.

Be concrete. Who you are, what you do, who depends on you.
Explain your kidney disease plainly — what caused it and where you are now.
Say what you would do with the time. People respond to a life, not a diagnosis.
Include a photograph. It matters more than anything else you write.
Be honest about hard parts. Sanitised profiles read as untrue.

What it costs

Being straight about this matters. Donor registration is free. Patient membership on MatchingDonors is paid, and at the time of writing the published options are a 7-day trial at $49, 30 days at $295, 90 days at $441, and a lifetime membership at $595. Membership covers posting your profile on the site.

If that is out of reach, MatchingDonors states: *"If you cannot afford a patient membership (organ registry fee), please contact us at 781-821-2204 to discuss your options."* The organisation also states there is no charge for patients from the United Kingdom. Prices can change — check the services page before you decide.

Do this alongside your transplant centre, not instead of it

What conversations with potential donors are like

Most patients find this the hardest part, and it helps to know the shape of it in advance. Several people will make contact and not proceed. That is normal and it is not a rejection of you — potential donors withdraw because of test results, family concerns, work, or simply because they thought about it further. Transplant centres expect this and screen many donors for every one who reaches surgery.

Be prepared to answer questions about your health honestly, and to accept that the medical conversation moves to the transplant centre quickly. You do not have to manage the clinical side yourself, and you should not try to.

Protect yourself from anyone who mentions money. Buying or selling organs is a federal crime, and a genuine donor will never ask you to pay them. Report anyone who does to your transplant centre — they will know what to do.

Searching for a living donor is not an alternative to being listed. Stay on the deceased-donor waiting list while you search — the two run in parallel, and being listed costs you nothing while you look. See alternatives to the transplant waiting list for how the two fit together.