Father Arul Innaiah Seeks Living Donor for Kidney Transplant

My name is Father Arul Raj Innaiah, and I am a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Grand Island, Nebraska. I am 50 years old, and I have been a priest for 24 years. I have been the pastor for St. John the Baptist parish in Crawford, Nebraska, and also for the Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Harrison, Nebraska, for the past 11 years.

I have been suffering from End Stage Renal Disease, caused by diabetes, for several years. I need a kidney transplant, hopefully from a living donor. I have been undergoing dialysis since March 2022, three times a week, four hours a day, for about three years.

Although the treatments are very time-consuming, I continue to keep up with my parish work.

I am originally from India, where my family still lives. I became a U.S. citizen several years ago. 

I have not been able to travel home to visit my family since before I started dialysis. My mother, especially, misses me tremendously. I very much want to travel home to visit her and all of my family. 

In spite of having ESRD and diabetes, I am doing my best to take care of my health. I watch what I eat and walk about two miles a day, on the treadmill or outside, if the weather permits.  My other interests are reading and visiting with friends.

I am needing a kidney transplant so that I can visit my family again as soon as possible. I would especially like to receive a kidney from a living donor because they can last for 20 - 40 years.

Living donors should be 18 - 60 years old, and should not have high blood pressure, other serious diseases like cancer or diabetes, and should not be overweight. 

Living donors do not have to worry about being a match. There is a process called paired donation that will allow almost anyone to donate a kidney to me.

For more information about kidney donation basics, go to this link:

nkr.org/MAE825

to reach my microsite on the National Kidney Registry, or call 308-665-5175. 

Please share this story with as many others as possible, with your family, friends, or on social media. It will help to save my life.

Thank you,

Father Arul Innaiah