Don Brown of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is hoping for a Christmas miracle.
After being exposed to heavy metals while working in his family’s scrap metal business during his youth, Brown’s kidneys became damaged and are now failing, he wrote on his website, Kidney2Don. Appearing on more than a dozen billboards across New Jersey, Pennsylvania and in Times Square, Brown is hoping someone can give him the gift of life this Christmas.
“What it means to me is, it’s life or death,” Brown, 74, told ABC6.
74-year-old Don Brown of Doylestown is popping up on billboards in NJ, PA & Times Square. Plus radio ads, SEPTA platform digital ads. Why ? He needs a kidney , asap.
His friends say he’s done so much good , now he is the one who needs help. https://t.co/FFxgUmDt4T pic.twitter.com/YjuSRTVcZb— Annie McCormick (@6abcAnnie) December 14, 2022
Brown said he attempted to slow the progression of his kidney disease through dietary changes and exercise. While the efforts he undertook have seemingly helped extend his life, a kidney transplant is the only further course of treatment available to hopefully give him “a normal life expectancy for another 20 or more years,” he wrote on his webpage.
Brown appears to have dedicated his life to helping and serving others. He serves as an Advisor to the Board of Directors of the REST House for Women in Quakerstown, and founded a Widows/Widowers Support Group for Bucks County. His company, Funding4Flippers LLC purchases run-down properties for renovation and then markets them to young families so they can purchase their first home.
Emily Cohen, who met Brown in a widow/widower support group, told ABC6, “He is an extraordinary human being who has made such an impact on so many people’s lives. And if he can get a living donor to donate a kidney, he’s got another 20 years left to help more people.”
“The donor doesn’t have to be a match,” Brown told the outlet. “The National Kidney Donation Organization works closely with the National Kidney Registry. If somebody is willing to donate, it goes into the kidney bank. Regardless of their medical match to me, it doesn’t matter if they donate, I get a voucher and I can take that voucher to a Kidney Transplant Center.” (RELATED: Researchers Develop ‘Mini Livers’ From Skin Cells That Could Help Thousands Waiting For A Transplant)
Potential donors can visit Brown’s website, which will connect potential donors with the National Kidney Donation Organization and the National Kidney Registry, where eligible donors will be vetted.