Hi! My name is Maia Goldman, and I live in New Jersey. I may look like a typical teenager, but I’ve been fighting a tough battle for years, and I’m deeply in need of a living kidney donor with blood type O.
Currently, I’m a junior in high school. I love to write for the school newspaper, play the flute, and participate in model UN conferences. Every day, I focus on juggling my academics, my extracurricular activities, and all of the other unique responsibilities of being in my junior year– like studying for the SATs, thinking about my future career path, and exploring college options.
Being in end-stage renal failure is an additional challenge that I have to manage in my day-to-day life. I have to focus a bit harder when the teacher is speaking, walk a bit slower up the stairs at school to avoid dizziness, and ask my parents to park nearby at the end of the day because it feels exhausting to walk far with a backpack.
I take multiple medications twice daily, give myself an injection weekly, and over the course of the past year, I’ve spent countless hours with an IV in my arm, receiving experimental treatments at the hospital in an effort to extend the life of my kidney. I’ve missed school, summer camp, and too many social gatherings as a result of being too sick to attend.
If there’s a silver lining to any of this, it’s that I’ve discovered my purpose. My ambitions are rooted in trying to mitigate the suffering of others, as I understand what true suffering is. I know how much pain there is around the world, and I am committed to giving marginalized groups a voice.
It is my dream to attend a college with an outstanding international relations program and then work at the United Nations.
I want to make this dream a reality, but as I become sicker and more fatigued, it’s making the most crucial year of my high school career very difficult to manage.
Perseverance has always been the defining factor within my life and medical journey, so I have no intentions of giving up. I want to keep going so I can help people internationally to keep going, too.
I hope that by sharing my story, I inspire somebody. Please consider being tested at Columbia (New York-Presbyterian) to become my kidney donor by clicking the button below. Thank you so much for your time and consideration, as this really means the world to me.
Why I Need a Kidney
I wish I could say that this is the first time that I’ve been in end-stage renal failure, but it’s not. I was born in kidney failure as a result of a complete blockage in my urinary system, and despite surgery to remove the blockage shortly after birth, my kidney function remained impaired and continued to deteriorate until I eventually needed a kidney transplant. I received that transplant, a living donation from my father, in 2014 at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
The years following the transplant have not been easy. Shortly after the transplant, I had multiple difficult battles with rejection and a stubborn kidney virus, both of which took a toll on my renal function over the course of two years.
With no simple cure, this battle included biopsies, experimental treatments, and traveling to multiple centers to meet with different nephrology teams to discuss possible solutions to eliminate the virus and save my newly transplanted kidney.
While the virus did ultimately resolve, my transplanted kidney never regained its lost function and has been steadily deteriorating each year. This past year, I was told that my kidney was losing function from a process called chronic rejection. Without a known cure for this condition, I endured multiple experimental IV infusions, which weakened my immune system and left me susceptible to infections. I then developed a painful, severe case of shingles as a result of the extra immunosuppression and lost more kidney function during the two months it took to recover.
It was about this time that my nephrologist explained to me that my kidney was failing, and I would need another.
I’m grateful to be in the tenth year with my transplanted kidney, despite all of the challenges. I’m also hopeful that in the absence of major complications, my next kidney will be with me for twice as long.
As I search for a living donor, I will continue to fight hard to make my life the most fulfilling as it can be. I know I have a bright future ahead of me, and I know my calling is to help people. I also know that I cannot make my mark on the world without a new kidney.
Please help me by sharing my story, or consider being screened to become my kidney donor.