It's been a long, troublesome, adventurous, thrilling journey but I wouldn't change one thing! I seize every moment of every day and enjoy the GIFT OF LIFE I have been given!

My name is Jennifer Allen and I am 32 years old.  I live in Lynn, Massachusetts and I teach fifth grade in the Lynn Public Schools.

            I was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease when I was 17 years old.  The disease I have is FSGS, or focal segmental glomerlisclerosis, a disease which permanently scars, and eventually destroys the kidneys.  I didn’t really know much about the disease, but I knew that my life had changed forever.  In the last 14 years, I have been on dialysis and had 3 kidney transplants.

            I received my first transplant in 1998 when I was 20 years old.  My mother, Judy, gave me her kidney.  Sadly, the transplant only lasted one week due to unknown complications during surgery.  After that, I started hemo-dialysis treatments, but then switched to peritoneal dialysis so I could return back to college.

           My second transplant came 2 weeks after my college graduation from my father, Jim.  My new kidney was working well, however, my doctors knew instantly that the disease had recurred and had already started scarring the new kidney.  I lived a very adventurous and fulfilling 5 years with my father’s kidney.  I traveled all over the world, and worked hard to earn my master’s degree and became an elementary school teacher. 

           5 ½ years later, the transplanted kidney failed and I started peritoneal dialysis again.  I started doing 9 hours of dialysis, 7 days a week at home.  I did this, all while working full-time as a teacher for 4 1/2 years. 

           On June 12th, 2008, I received my third kidney from my Uncle Dave.  I’m happy to report that I am feeling fantastic, and UDK, or Uncle Dave’s Kidney as we’ve named it, is working very well.   However, the disease has returned in this kidney as well.   The doctors can't tell me how long it will last, but I'm making the most of it while I've got it!  Last summer, I brought UDK up to 14,000 ft and jumped out of a plane!  It loved it (and so do I!!)

         In May of 2008, just weeks before my most recent transplant, the NKF gave me the opportunity to travel to Washington DC on behalf of the National Kidney Foundation to speak with Senators and Representatives to ask for their support in a major Medicare bill that would give funding to dialysis prevention and education.   A few weeks later this bill was passed, bringing funding for education to the entire nation.

          This summer, I'll be competing in my first U.S. Transplant Games in tennis and gold for Team Mid-New England.  I'm so excited for the opportunity to meet other people with the same experiences as I've had.