My Kidney Donation Story: Michael Culley

I have a large, tight-knit group of friends with long-term sobriety. About four years ago, we found out that one of our friends, Scott, needed a kidney transplant. He has polycystic kidney disease and had been on the transplant list for a while.

We all took the blood type test and one of us was a match. Jeff was all set to donate, but just a week before the surgery, the doctors discovered he had an extra artery, which meant he couldn’t donate. We didn’t hear anything for a while because we were still looking for that blood type match: our motto was “B-positive for Scott.”

Then in 2023, Scott came forward and said, there’s this thing called paired donation. He had a business card with a QR code that we could scan. Our friend Matt scanned it first, but testing revealed that his two kidneys had joined into one, super-powered, horseshoe-shaped kidney. That’s the thing about the screening process—worst-case scenario, you get to know everything about yourself.

After Matt was ruled out, I scanned the QR code and went to have my blood drawn that same day, on October 25, 2023. I went through an extremely thorough screening process and was approved in February 2024.

Once I was approved, my coordinator asked if I had any upcoming plans they should be aware of. I said I was running the Boston Marathon on April 15. She suggested we wait until after the marathon, but I insisted on doing the surgery as soon as possible. To me, running the Boston Marathon wasn’t as important as my donation since I had already completed it three times and qualified 12 times. She gave me the green light, and we were ready to go. Sixteen days after being activated with the NKR, I got the call saying that they found a match, and my surgery would be in two weeks.

Reality set in, and I knew that it was time to tell my family. My son knew and thought it was really cool, but I hadn’t told my mom. So, at that point I called my mom to tell her that I was donating a kidney. Of course, she was really worried—her initial reaction was to try to talk me out of it. But in the end, she was extremely impressed with the whole process (she was in the medical field—in nuclear medicine). Now she thinks it’s great.

The day of my donation was March 14, 2024, which happened to be World Kidney Day. That day, we got a massive blizzard in Colorado, with up to two feet of snow. The day before my surgery, my coordinator called to see if we were on our way up that night. I told her we’d be up the next morning. She said, “I really think you need to come up tonight.” The highway between Colorado Springs and Denver ended up being closed that night, so if we hadn’t taken her advice, we would not have made it for the surgery. A trip that normally took an hour and 10 minutes ended up being around three hours in a complete whiteout. But we made it.

The next morning, I checked into the hospital for my surgery. I had never had surgery before, so I was fascinated with the entire experience. I knew this was what I was here to do, and I had zero hesitation.

The recovery process began quickly. They had me up and walking that same night, and they released me the next day. The first two days after the surgery I had some discomfort, just as they had warned me about, but after the swelling went down, at about day four, I was good to go.

I am an everyday runner and I was on a 1,335-day streak, with a minimum distance of five kilometers. I had a lot invested in that streak and stopping was tough, but this was a good reason to do it. In the beginning, they told me not to run for four weeks. The Boston Marathon was in just over four weeks, so I would only have four days to train. I was cool with just walking it—I just wanted to cross the finish line. During my recovery, I was walking every day and sometimes really pushing the pace. At one point I was accused of running, but I was just walking really fast. My longest walk was 13.6 miles.

With a great start to my recovery, I was told that I could test out running at three weeks. So at that point, I was going to do a five-mile test run, but that turned into eight miles. I felt good, so I immediately hopped on my bike and did another 10 miles. Then, that evening, I did a three-and-a-half-mile trail run with my friends.

That was 12 days before the Boston Marathon, so I had a little bit of time to train. I don’t feel like I took too big of a hit with my fitness. My pace was a little bit slower, but it wasn’t terrible. I went into it thinking I was just going to take it easy and have fun, but I ended up having a really good day.

I was wearing my Kidney Donor Athlete shirt and on the back, it said, “Running on One Since March 14, 2024.” A guy came up and said, Man did you really just donate a month ago? I donated to my mother-in-law four years ago and I wasn’t even thinking about running at one month.

I did the first mile in 7.09 and thought I’d better back off a little bit. I thought I backed off, but the second mile was 7.02. I thought, well, I guess I’m in this thing. I checked in with myself every five kilometers. I had never felt so good at the halfway point of the Boston Marathon before. I thought, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I feel great. I finished in 3:45:12. It was the slowest of all my Boston’s, but still a decent time, and by far my best Boston experience.

My kidney went to a stranger, but right before Boston, my coordinator called me and said, “I have a stack of letters for you.” The letters were from the person who received my kidney, who I now know is a woman with a young child, and her family members. Seven pages in all. The main thing she said was that life can resume, and she can go back to being a mother.

I started this whole process for my friend Scott, but it became so much more because I was able to also help someone I didn’t even know. Although Scott hasn’t received his transplant yet, he is activated and waiting for a match.

My biggest advice to anyone considering donation is to maintain good fitness. It was the key to my recovery. Be in tune with your body, don’t push the limits too much. Absolutely go through the screening process—the further you get into it, the more you’ll learn about the process and yourself. Without hesitation, I would do it again if I could!

About the Author

Michael Culley was born and raised in the western suburbs of Chicago. He went to college at Southern Illinois University where he majored in Architecture and Construction Management. He has a career in tattooing, which he has done since September of 1997. Tattooing allows him the freedoms to travel the world, while working to support himself along the journey. He has been blessed to see so many amazing places, and befriend many wonderful people all over the world. He has been living a sober lifestyle since October 5, 2013, and it was one of the best decisions he’s ever made. Through sobriety, he met many friends he considers family, one of them being his indirect recipient. They are a very active group, and like to run together. Running is another big part of his life. He has ran since high school, and it’s a part of his daily routine. The marathon is his preferred distance, and he’s always in training. The daily running played a huge role in preparing him for donation, and aided him in a speedy recovery.