By Jose Amezola Beltran, Living Kidney Donor – Right now, there are more than two thousand Coloradans waiting for a kidney transplant and more than 98 thousand people waiting nationwide. The average time a patient spends on the waiting list is 3-5 years. For me, it was an easy decision to help. After considering becoming a living kidney donor for some time—and after a bit of resistance from my loved ones—in 2013, I donated my left kidney to a woman I had never met in Sacramento, Calif.