Hi! My name is Ei Meeker (he/him). I’m incredibly grateful to share that I now have a living donor — my friend Ken — and I’m currently waiting for my official transplant match through the paired donation program at Weill Cornell.
​
But the need for donors is still great.
You can still help by registering to become a potential living kidney donor — not just for me, but for the thousands of people waiting for a transplant.
Your selfless act could save someone else’s life, just like Ken's decision gave me hope.
From Hope to Match:
My Transplant Story
I found a donor — but this journey is far from over.
November 5, 2025
Hi friends! I’m so grateful—thanks to my friend Ken’s kidney donation in May, I have a transplant voucher ready for the new year. I’ll be listed on January 1st and can’t wait for Weill Cornell to find the perfect match through Weill Cornell's Living Donor Paired Donation Program.
​
Please bookmark this page or add it to your desktop if you’d like to reach out directly—I’ll be posting all important updates here, and you’ll be able to contact me as well.
​
In the meantime, I hope you and your loved ones have a peaceful and healthy holiday season.
Love,
Ei
August, 2025
A third amazing friend has answered my appeal for a kidney and been cleared to donate, an all-around extraordinary human, Nora. She donated to a child as an "altruistic donor", giving the gift of her healthy kidney to someone in need for the sole reason of being able to help a stranger (who happened to be a child) -- changing lives! I am overwhelmingly grateful.
July 15, 2025
I am now in the “middle” of my kidney transplant journey. I hit a spectacular benchmark in May when a dear friend, Ken, became an Advanced Living Kidney Donor for me. This means that now I wait to be “listed” with the Weill Cornell Kidney & Pancreas Transplant Program and move on to the next stage of a well-coordinated, complicated effort. Once I am listed, they start the search, notify me immediately of a match (which could take 3-6 months, or not...), and the procedure is scheduled. I will keep you posted here.
But this post is not about me: it’s about two spectacular people I was able to connect: Linda Watnick and Richard Reese Jr. Two once-strangers, 500 miles apart, worked together to form a life-saving kidney connection.
**Richard** decided that he really wanted to donate to me, but when Ken completed the donor process first (love you, Kenji!), Richard had another decision to make: STOP NOW or KEEP GOING? He decided to keep going and...
*** one week ago, Richard donated his kidney to Linda!***
In an incredibly short 45 days from first contact to surgery, Richard and Linda pulled it off last week, and both are home now, starting the healing process. In fact, their kidneys, antibodies, DNA, and eplets were one of the most compatible matches that their surgical teams had ever seen: truly incredible!
Congrats to Richard and Linda! I am so joyous to have played a part in this story of stellar humanity.
“Friend” them if you want to learn more about what their experiences. They have a lot to teach us about diligence and hope. Weill Cornell and The National Kidney Foundation is also an excellent place to learn more.
I hope when my transplant comes I feel as hopeful and enthusiastic.
Dear family, friends, colleagues, and community,
I hope this message finds you well, despite the challenging times many of us are having right now. You know me as a brother, uncle, son, friend, colleague, neighbor, teacher, pet-sitter, client, mentor, or fellow activist, and I truly consider each of you a vital part of my well-being.
I recently entered End-Stage Renal Disease, a worsening development in my polycystic kidney disease, and I've just started the daunting process of a kidney transplant.
This includes reaching out to every person I know to ask them to consider being a living donor,
or to help me find a donor.
Click the button below to help me share my story.
About Me
I’m a passionate and hard-working person who tries to make a lasting impact through my actions and the opportunities I take, whether it’s personally developing into a stronger, more open-hearted person; guiding students (as a Health and English teacher over the last 20 years) to make healthier decisions; being a reliable family member, friend, and colleague; or using my voice to promote equity for vulnerable groups, especially people living with HIV, my LGBTQIA2s+ community, and immigrant youth and their families.
