Meeting Potential Donor Heroes in San Diego – Arianne

Arianne is representative of our amazing backup donors.

I am a 3^rd grade teacher in Rancho Bernardo who moved to Escondido from Long Beach (where I grew up and went to college) about a year ago.  I live there with my husband, 2-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter.

I am a person that has lots of interesting ideas in life, so I always go up to my husband and say “ok, so I need to talk to you about something,” and he says “ok, lay it on me.  Do it quick.  What’s your big idea this time?”    So, I told him, and he said “cool – it’s your body and do what you feel is right.”  He was amazingly supportive. I had connected to Curtis’s story through social media. A good friend mine live block away on the same street as Curtis. I went to the website and just had a feeling “that this feels right, and this feels amazing.”  Then I saw that I had the same blood type and other things kept happening that told me I wanted to do this “so here I am.”

I have previously been tested for bone marrow donation. I did a lot of research and talked to a secretary at my school – her husband had donated his kidney to a co-worker and went through the whole donation process. A few people have asked me “why,” and I’ve said, “why not?!!”  The side effects that I might have, I can’t deal with, I can deal with.  Curtis can’t deal with his kidney right now!