By Leila Merrill
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Massachusetts Firefighter-EMT Dave Raymond is looking for a living kidney donor for his wife, Kelly, according to EMS Gives Life.
EMS Gives Life is a nonprofit that promotes, supports, and facilitates organ donation within the EMS and first responder communities.
Kelly Raymond is in kidney failure and requires multiple dialysis sessions each day. Her family and friends are not medically eligible to help.
Dave Raymond — a lieutenant with the Hamilton Fire Department in Massachusetts and an EMT/ESO manager with Cataldo Ambulance — initially thought he would donate a kidney. But he could not.
“I never thought I would be asking for this type of help from friends, acquaintances, and even strangers, but here I am, asking for someone to be a kidney donor for my wife, Kelly,” Dave said in a post by EMS Gives Life. “I need help to save her!”
Kelly and her family — including son, Christopher, who also is a firefighter-EMT — are in the Boston area, but a donor would not have to be.
In fact, through the National Kidney Registry’s standard voucher program, a person could give a kidney to someone who is the best match (who might not be Kelly), and because of that donation, a voucher would go to Kelly that would move her from the waitlist to a living donor list.
The waiting list can take years, but EMS Gives Life says that the living donors list typically takes months to find a match.
Kelly has been on a transplant waiting list since 2020.
The National Kidney Registry has 100 member centers nationwide. Kelly’s insurance plan and the NKR would cover a donor’s costs. More information is available at Kelly Raymond Kidney Donor Search - EMS Gives Life.