mission and vision
To Save One Life: Mobilizing America's houses of worship to end the kidney shortage.
Nearly 95,000 Americans need a kidney transplant. Twelve people die every day waiting for one, languishing on years-long waiting lists. And, nearly one million people are treated for end-stage kidney disease, and half a million people endure dialysis daily, costing U.S. taxpayers $90 billion a year.
It is one of the most solvable crises in American medicine.
There are more than 356,000 congregations in the United States.
If just one healthy person in each congregation stepped forward as a willing living donor in only one-third of these congregations, the kidney shortage would end. Not someday. Today.
“There is no greater power for good in the world than the power of congregations.”
— Pastor Rick Warren
“Where will we find people with the heart to give a kidney? Congregations!”
— Ron Wolfson, To Save One Life
Most Americans have never heard of the breakthrough that makes this solution possible.
It’s called a kidney “swap.” Or, a kidney paired donation. If you know someone - a family member, a friend, a fellow congregant - who needs a kidney, you can still save their life, even if you are not a match!
You donate your kidney to someone who matches you, and your loved one or friend gets a kidney that matches them. Sometimes pairs or swaps can be created among families that have both a kidney patient in need of a transplant and a willing donor.
Amazing, right?!?
Two of the TSOL campaign's founders learned this firsthand when they were told they were not a match for their spouses. Ron Wolfson donated on behalf of his wife, Susie, and Linda Pachino donated on behalf of her husband, Bart. When they told people about “kidney swaps,” they discovered how little awareness of this option exists, even among well-informed people, even in the medical community.
You can save more than “one” life.
You may not know of someone who needs a kidney, but still hope to come forward to donate your “spare.” This is called a “non-directed” (or “Good Samaritan”) donation since it is not on behalf of a designated recipient. One act of generosity becomes a lifesaving solution. Sometimes your donation triggers a chain that doesn’t just save one life; this begins a “chain” that helps save the lives of multiple people!
The kidney shortage is an educational problem, not just a medical problem.
The science works. The infrastructure exists. What is missing is awareness that:
Preemptive transplantation before dialysis provides the best outcomes for kidney patients.
Living donor kidneys work faster, better and longer than deceased donor organs.
The power of paired kidney swaps means patients do not need a match, they need a donor. We believe houses of worship are uniquely suited to expand this awareness.
Faith communities are built on trust. Every major tradition teaches the immeasurable worth of every person. The teaching that gives this campaign its name — that to save one life is to save a world — appears across faiths. We believe in the opportunity for faith communities to be a driving force in reaching an achievable solution to this problem.
The Kidney Crisis
A solvable problem hiding in plain sighT.
12
People who die every day waiting for one.
95,000
Americans who need a kidney transplant
~6,400
Living kidney donors per year, roughly unchanged since 2007.
500,000
Patients on dialysis costing Medicare taxpayers billions of dollars a year
Living donor transplants last longer and produce better outcomes than deceased donor transplants.
Kidney donation surgery is also remarkably safe, safer than appendix surgery In a Mayo Clinic survey of 3,000 living kidney donors, only 2.5% of patients experienced complications and all recovered completely.
Donors live full, healthy lives with one kidney. If a donor ever needs a transplant themselves, they are given priority on the deceased donor organ waiting list. National Kidney Registry donors receive a voucher for a living donor kidney should they or their family members ever need one.
Living donation saves more lives.
Kidney swaps made more possible.
Traditional living donation required a direct tissue-type match between donor and recipient. That single requirement rejected countless willing donors.
Paired kidney swaps remove that barrier. Anyone healthy enough to be a donor can donate to someone who matches them and your intended recipient will get a kidney that is a compatible match.
With non-directed donations, one donation often triggers a chain — three, five, ten transplants can be made possible by a single act of generosity.
Ending the crisis is arithmetic, not aspirational.
On average, 95,000 people need a kidney every year. There are more than 356,000 congregations in the United States. If just ⅓ found one willing donor, the waiting list would not just shrink. It would end.
Team & Partners
Built by people who have lived this mission.
Founders
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Ron Wolfson, PhD
Founder
Ron is a living kidney donor (at age 70!) on behalf of his wife of over 56 years, Susie Kukawka Wolfson. His impressive collection of publications includes To Save One Life: The Miracle of Living Kidney Donation, Transplantation, and How You Can Make It Happen, which he wrote with Dr. Mikel Prieto, and tells Susie’s transplant story and raises awareness of paired kidney donations. He lives in Los Angeles and eats frozen yogurt just about every day.
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Susie Wolfson
Founder
Susie is the recipient of a living kidney donation (at age 70!) from a compatible stranger, made possible by Ron’s willingness to donate his “spare” to a stranger who matched him. She is a retired early childhood teacher, author and creative family educator who dotes on her two grandchildren, Ellie and Gabe.
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Barton (Bart) Pachino
Co-Founder
Barton Pachino is a polycystic kidney disease patient who received a living kidney transplant when his wife Linday donated her kidney to a stranger in a paired kidney swap. He is an accomplished legal executive, educator, and community leader with over 40 years of experience across corporate law, real estate, and non-profit management. Currently a Business Law Lecturer at California State University, Northridge, Barton previously spent over 17 years at KB Home, where he served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel, overseeing the legal affairs of one of the nation’s largest public homebuilders.
Following his corporate career, he transitioned into faith-based leadership as Executive Director of a large Los Angeles congregation. A graduate of Northwestern University Law School and Duke University, Barton remains deeply committed to community service through board positions at the Fulfillment Fund and various educational and health-focused non-profits, blending his professional expertise in negotiation and real estate with a long-standing passion for mentorship and civic advocacy.
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Dr. Mikel Prieto
Co-Founder
Dr. Prieto is the surgical director of the Pediatric Kidney and the Adult Pancreas Transplant program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. In addition to his clinical activities, Dr. Prieto is actively involved in clinical research and education, and mentoring surgical residents and nephrology and transplant surgery fellows. His expertise in kidney and pancreas transplantation and living donation is nationally renowned, an in-demand speaker at conferences of kidney medical professionals. He is the co-author of To Save One Life: The Miracle of Living Kidney Donation, Transplantation, and How You Can Make It Happen, with campaign founder Ron Wolfson.
Board of Directors
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Ron Wolfson
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Mikel Prieto
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Bart Pachino
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Ann Levine
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Nate Levine
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Andi Goldstein
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Don Goldstein
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Beryl Weiner
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Mark Spiegler
Medical Partners
To Save One Life does not facilitate medical procedures. We educate and activate, then direct those who are interested into the established medical system.
Transplant centers nationwide
Organizations facilitating and supporting living kidney donation, such as the National Kidney Registry, Alliance for Paired Kidney Donation, National Kidney Foundation, United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), American Kidney Fund, Renewal, Waitlist Zero, Kidney Transplant Collaborative
Additional partners will be added as the campaign expands.
Faith Leadership
A growing TSOL Clergy Advisory Team and network of clergy, theologians, and lay leaders across many faith traditions who have endorsed the campaign and committed to bringing it to their communities.
Pastor Rick Warren
Imam Johari Abdul-Malik
Rabbi Sharon Brous
Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati
Rabbi David Wolpe
Pastor Steve Gladen
Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove