GREAT NEWS - DR. LOU RECEIVED A KIDNEY TRANSPLANT ON 11/1/2023 FROM AN ANONYMOUS LIVING DONOR

Dear Friends & Family: I want to thank everyone who Shared My Story with others in helping me find a Living Kidney Donor. I greatly appreciate everyone’s support and prayers. By the grace of God, an Anonymous Donor came forward and blessed me with The Gift of Life by donating his kidney to me. I am extremely humbled and honored by this individual’s kindness and generosity by coming to my rescue. I am forever grateful.

If You’re Interested in Learning More About How I’m Helping Others Find A Living Kidney Donor, Please Contact Me (see below)

Who Am I?

My name is Dr. Louis Stimmel and I’m a happily married man with 3 adult children. My wife and I have been married for 32 years and still reside in Wayne, New Jersey where we raised our family. I'm a graduate of both Fordham University and New York Chiropractic College. For the past 32 years, I have been extremely blessed to have worked as a chiropractic physician and am still actively treating patients 5 days per week. I enjoy being active with various charitable organizations within my community and through The Knights Of Columbus. I also enjoy boating, fishing, skiing, racquetball and spending time with my family. As a chiropractor, I have dedicated myself to helping patients return to a healthy and active lifestyle. I am now faced with my own health challenge of having kidney failure and am in need of someone to help me with a very special, precious "Gift Of Life" and be a kidney donor. It’s not easy for me to ask “for help” but I am in need of someone's kindness and generosity to consider becoming a living kidney donor to me.

What Would I Do With A Gift Of Life

This special "Gift Of Life" would dramatically improve both the quantity and quality of my life as an active member of various charities and my charitable work throught The Knights Of Columbus within my community and my dedication to my patients as a chiropractor, a husband to my wife and father to my three children with the dreams of one day seeing them get married and holding my future grandchildren without the daily unwanted side-effects and limitations I routinely experience along with the realistic short-term and long-term health risks associated with being a dialysis patient.

The Beginning

In January of 2021, I learned after a routine physical exam that I was suffering from end-stage chronic kidney failure. I was advised by my kidney physician to immediately begin dialysis in order to prevent a rapid decline in my health which could ultimately lead to death. I initially tried several alternative treatments to reverse my kidney failure but nothing worked. Finally in April 2021, I began doing dialysis 3x/week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday). The treatments require me to arrive at the dialysis center at 6am and sit in a dialysis chair for 4 hours for each treatment. After dialysis on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I still manage to go to my office to treat patients that need my services as a chiropractic physician.

My Current Situation

Once I began dialysis in April 2021, I was strongly advised by my physician to get onto a kidney transplant list. After I had several extensive medical tests that were required in order for me to be presented to the Transplant Committee, I was accepted onto the kidney transplant list at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ on October 21, 2022. Unfortunately, my children were evaluated as potential living donors and were found to be not medically eligible so I am asking for help in finding potential living donors outside of my immediate family.

Hospital transplant centers DO NOT help patients find living kidney donors and the responsibility solely relies on the individual in need of a kidney transplant to find a living donor on their own. The average waiting list time for a deceased donor kidney transplant is about 3-7 years. Statistics show that a deceased donor kidney can present multiple complications and challenges and does not last as long as compared to a living kidney donation. Therefore, a kidney from a living donor is considered my best option and the reasons why I need your help. On average, a donated kidney from a living donor lasts about 15-20 years whereas a deceased donor kidney lasts about 8-12 years. Another advantage of a living donor kidney is that the kidney from a living donor begins to work immediately whereas a deceased donor kidney might take several days, weeks or even months to function normally and often requires you to continue dialysis until the kidney starts to function normally.

Dialysis does not cure your kidney failure and it only replaces part of your kidney function. The long-term complications and side-effects of dialysis are dangerous and are well-documented which is a great concern to me. After my dialysis treatment, my energy levels are diminished. Despite how I feel, I still push myself to go to my chiropractic office daily to serve the needs of my patients. My lifestyle of enjoying quality time with my family has also been dramatically affected as I am extremely limited to travel because of my 3x/week, 4 hours/day dialysis schedule. This is WHY I am asking for your help in both sharing my story with your friends, co-workers, family, colleagues, religious affiliations, organizations, etc via word-of-mouth, e-mail and social media to spread the word that I need a kidney transplant and to also consider getting tested yourself.

Share My Story & Consider Getting Tested As A Donor At No Cost To You... It Can Potentially Save Your Own Life

I completely understand and respect that not everyone will be in a position to even consider donating a kidney. I appreciate that you would even take the time to simply read my website to learn more about me and ask that you consider SHARING MY STORY with others about my need for a kidney. The more people that know of my need of a kidney transplant and look at my website the better the possibilities of someone offering to be a kidney donor to me. Thank you very much for your time and may God Bless You.

Benefits Of Getting Tested As A Potential Donor

Comprehensive Health Evaluation and Medical Testing – NO COST TO YOU.
All Medical Testing is covered by MY INSURANCE…. NOT YOURS.
Testing determines Your Own Health Status & Detects Underlying Health Issues.
Potential Donors can discover by getting tested life-threatening medical issues such as Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes & Autoimmune Diseases, etc. that might never have been detected without testing .....Donor Testing Can Save Your Life!!!
Getting Tested is NOT A COMMITMENT or OBLIGATION to donate…. You can always change your mind any time.
If you are eligible to donate but not a direct match, you can still be my donor through a Paired Swap where incompatible donor and recipient pairs are matched with another duo for a one-to-one exchange or "Paired Swap Exchange".

What To Expect As A Living Kidney Donor

Spend 1-2 Days in the Hospital
Return back to work in 7-14 days
Procedure is done via Laporoscopic Surgery….. NOT MAJOR SURGERY
Return Back to your normal life…… exercise, diet, travel, etc.
NO IMPACT ON LIFE EXPECTANCY….. LIVE A HEALTHY NORMAL LIFE WITH ONLY ONE KIDNEY

Important Facts To Know

There are over 106,000 people on the Deceased Kidney Waiting List in the USA…… And many people die from kidney disease because they could not find get a kidney donation
Over 3000 new patients/month are added to the kidney waiting list
17 people die/day while waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant
In 2022, over 25,000 Kidney Transplants were performed in the USA
1/1000 BORN WITH ONLY 1 KIDNEY & Live A Normal Life

Dialysis vs Kidney Transplant – What Choice Is Better?

Clinical studies show that patients who have a successful kidney transplant live longer than patients treated with dialysis. Dialysis also increases the risk of heart inflammation and disease, irregular heart beat, sudden cardiac arrest, stroke, anemia and sepsis. Patients who have a kidney transplant report having a better quality of life compared to being on dialysis. Kidney transplant patients enjoy being able to return to work, travel more freely, and live without diet and fluid restrictions. Compared with a deceased donor kidney transplant, the benefits of a living donor kidney transplant include: Less time spent on a waiting list (3-7 years), better outcomes, less complications, less chance of rejection and longer survival rates of the kidney transplant.