Kidney Donor Athletes Climb Kilimanjaro To Prove Living Donors Can Lead Full Active Lives, With Piedmont Support

kidney Donors Climb Kilimanjaro To Showcase Life After Donation

USA: Robin Ernstus is among 15 former kidney donors traveling to Tanzania with the group kidney Donor Athletes to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and raise awareness about kidney transplantation. Their goal is to confront the fear that keeps millions of healthy Americans from donating, even as more than 90,000 people in the United States wait for a life-saving kidney transplant.

Ernstus donated a kidney to a stranger in 2018 and kept the decision largely private until now. The team chose Kilimanjaro — a peak that rises nearly 20,000 feet and tests even experienced hikers with thin air, steep climbs and wide temperature swings — to demonstrate that donation need not curtail an active life.

Transplant clinicians at Piedmont Hospital stress that donor safety and long-term health are primary concerns throughout evaluation, and their expectation is that people who donate a kidney can return to fully normal, active lives. The climb is intended to reinforce that message to potential donors and to the broader public considering living donation.

Organizers hope the expedition will inspire at least one person to investigate donation options. For Ernstus and the other participants, the campaign is meant to prove that giving a kidney can be a life-affirming choice for both donor and recipient, not an end to adventure.

Video originally published on 2026-03-06 17:55:11