Abby Vara was recently honored as ambassador of Ottawa’s Give the Gift of Life Walk for donating a kidney to her dad, Erampamoorthy Varaprasatham. She’s happy to do it, but doesn’t think her kidney donation was such a big deal.
“I don’t feel like I gave anything up. It was something I did to help my family. … It’s weird when people say I did something amazing,” she said.
Was she worried about the surgery? Not so much.
“I definitely wasn’t scared for myself,” she said. “I was worried for my dad. I’d give up my life for my dad’s.”
One year later, with her dad in much better health, the college student wants others to understand the importance of living kidney donation.
“My goal is to help people who are thinking of donating and sharing my story,” she said. “I want to let them know that it’s so worthwhile. One thing is to understand the risks, but my dad is worth the world, and we had such an amazing outcome from it.”