The Back Story

Mike Poirier was hoping to donate a kidney to his brother-in-law, Rich Nagle, who suffered from chronic kidney disease, (CKD). Rich needed a kidney transplant to have a chance to survive and return to good health. Unfortunately, Mike’s blood type did not match Rich’s and he could not be a direct donor. Rather than give up, Mike spoke to the Transplant Center at Rhode Island Hospital to learn if he could help in any way. As he looked more deeply into the subject of living kidney donation, he came across a program that had been developed nationally to take incompatible donor/ recipient pairs and put them in a pool together to find viable matches. The Transplant Center explained that there was the option of donating his kidney to another patient, and in return, help Rich to receive a kidney from an anonymous matching donor.

Kristen Allen had tried three times to donate a kidney to friends in need and either she was not a match, or they received kidneys from other donors while in the process of testing. She was healthy and wanting to donate, but had no potential recipient left. She felt really disappointed. The RIH Living Donor Coordinator (401-444-3091) let her know that they accepted altruistic donors, and she could potentially be one, if she completed the remaining evaluation steps and was approved by the program. She told them, “Yes, that is what I will do.” In her words, “So on June 27, 2022, I had the privilege and honor of becoming an altruistic kidney donor for the RI Hospital Organ Transplant department. It was a journey getting there, and I will always be grateful for the people and circumstances that allowed me to have that experience. I hope by sharing my story others may consider becoming living donors too.” 

On that day of June 27th, four people were operated on at the Transplant Center at Rhode Island Hospital. Kristen and Mike underwent the donor surgery. Rich was the recipient of Kristen’s kidney, and Ann Marie, who was on dialysis was the recipient of Mike’s kidney.

Two weeks after the surgery all four had a chance to meet at the hospital, along with several members of the transplant team, caregivers, and staff. It was a wonderful experience to meet and talk about the various roads they had traveled to this point. As fate would have it, Mike, Kristen, and Rich are all North Kingstown residents! The KM Back to Life Charity of RI is dedicated to raising funds for the Kidney Center Patient Fund which supports patients needing financial assistance during their recovery, and to spread awareness of the need for kidney donors like Kristen and Mike, who are the real-life heroes who helped save the lives of two fellow Rhode Islanders.