A MESSAGE
FROM THE
GRAND
LECTURER

Monday, December 21, 2020

My dear Brothers,

To begin with, I hope all of you are enjoying the holiday season in whatever way you enjoy it.

This is one of the hardest things that I have ever done in a lifetime filled with hard things.

My Brothers, I have Stage 4 kidney failure. The great transplant team that I am working with highly recommends transplant over dialysis and the statistics bear that judgment out.

I am writing to you today to see if any Brothers would enter the process of being matched for a potential kidney donation. Matching is no commitment to following through but it increases the pool of candidates who may donate and qualify to do it.

The process involves doing screening wherever you are including some blood work. If you pass that hurdle then there would be further testing done to ensure that you are healthy enough to donate without harm to you. All of this is at no cost to you.

If you are interested in getting matched the first step is to call the Strong Memorial Transplant team, choose option 1, and ask to speak to a donor coordinator and they will take it from there. I was born in 1954.

My Brothers, I cannot tell you how proud I am to belong to a Brotherhood that will try to help a Brother the best it can. I know this is a hard ask, as much for me as it might be for you. I am hard to kill, and my spirit is 100% GUNG HO!!!!

Feel free to contact me by phone or email.

Just the fact that read this note makes me proud of all of us as Brothers.

God bless you all,

Gung HO!

RW Rich Friedman, Grand Lecturer