Sangha of Auspicious Companions

How Deciding to Donate a Kidney Saved My Own Life

Jessica Lahey set out to donate a kidney to a stranger — moved by a college student’s videos documenting his grueling dialysis routine and the 90,000 people waiting for transplants. But she never imagined the gift would circle back to save her own life. The required pre-donation mammogram, scheduled six months earlier than she would have normally received it, revealed invasive lobular breast cancer, a type notoriously difficult to detect early. “I was devastated, both for myself and for the stranger I’d already granted a small claim on my body,” she writes. Yet that devastation opened into grace: early detection, successful treatment, and the knowledge that someone else stepped forward to complete the kidney chain she’d started. What began as pure altruism became something more complex and human — a reminder that generosity doesn’t always flow in the direction we expect.

Be The Change

Do an act that supports someone’s health journey, or make a preventative health appointment you’ve been postponing.