My Kidney Transplant Story: Raj Narine

I go to the doctor every year for a checkup, and up until 2018, everything was OK. Then COVID came, and I didn’t go to the doctor again until 2022. That year, I went to get a physical and my doctor recommended that I go see a kidney doctor.  

The kidney doctor told me I had Stage 4 kidney disease. I was so upset. They put me on medication, and I had to get blood work every two weeks. 

I fought it for a long time. I was eating right, exercising, and taking care of myself. I watched my carb intake, stopped eating red meat, and exercised five days a week. I lost a lot of weight, but my kidney function did not seem to get any better. 

By 2023, my GFR (glomerular filtration rate) was down to 20, and my doctor recommended that I go on the kidney transplant list.  

In 2024, my doctor suggested that I start dialysis. I was on dialysis for about a year. It was painful and very depressing. I would go there and see a bunch of older people with no legs and say to myself, why are you complaining? Look at these people. So I would just put my music on—religious music, gospel music—just to take my mind off it. 

My sister’s husband donated a kidney through the National Kidney Registry’s (NKR’s) Voucher Program and named me as the voucher holder so I could get a living donor kidney. Four months later, on November 17, 2025, I got the most amazing phone call in the world. 

I had retired from my job and my company bought me a brand new Corvette. After I had picked it up, NYU Langone called to say they had found me a match. I sat in my car in the driveway and I started crying. For some reason, I just froze, I couldn’t go inside. I called my wife and said, I am outside and I have good news for you. She said, I know you got the car. I said this car means nothing compared to the gift I just got. I told her that NYU Langone had found a match and she started crying. I called my sister, who is my best friend, and told her the news. 

I had my transplant on December 18, 2025. The NKR gave me the best Christmas gift in the whole wide world. I always knew God was looking over me, but the NKR was my guardian angel. 

Everyone at NYU Langone—those people are not just doctors, they are God for what they do, the way they treat people, the way they talk to people, and the encouragement they give. They saved my life.  

I am on a lot of medications, and I am just following instructions. That’s the way I’m going to treat it. I am going to do whatever I have to do to survive as long as I can.  

Now that I’m retired, I want to travel the world with my wife and enjoy my kids who are all grown up and successful. My daughter is a doctor and my son is an engineer. I worked so hard my whole life so they would never have to pay a bill. I did what I had to do, and now it’s my turn. I feel like I have been given a new life.

About the Author

Raj J. Narine was born in Guyana, a small country in South America that was previously ruled by the British Government and gained independence in 1966. His parents migrated to the United States of America in 1975. His parents and oldest brother came first and worked very hard then they purchased a house in Queens, New York, before they brought the rest of the family (he has four siblings) to the United States. They didn’t have much, but their parents made sure they grew up with respect and a roof always over their heads. They sent them to school and made sure they were all successful and never had to ask anyone for anything in life. Raj got married in 1988 to the most loving person in the whole wide world. He considers himself the luckiest person in the world to have met his wife. They have two children—a son and a daughter.