Search for a Kidney Leads to YouTube

Man in need of an organ donor makes a video plea for help.

ByABC News
July 29, 2010, 12:39 PM

July 30, 2010— -- John Nakata is only 37 years old, but doctors have told him he has only two years to live.

Plagued by a number of illnesses, Nakata is searching for a kidney donor in hopes that he will be able to see his 5-year-old son grow up.

Rather than sit and idly wait for his name to come up on a national list, Nakata and his family in Tamaqua, Pa., have turned to YouTube in search of a good Samaritan. However, some experts say seeking alternate means to find a donor is unfair -- that it is equivalent to skipping the line.

During the video, Nakata, his wife and his sister describe his illnesses, his need for a kidney, and his desire to see his son grow up. The video looks like it was shot in the family kitchen with what appears to be a picture of Nakata's son on the refrigerator behind him.

"I'm way too young to die and leave [my son] alone," Nakata says in the video. "My son means everything to me. He's the one thing keeping me here."

Nakata is diabetic and anemic and suffers from hypertension, coronary artery disease and renal failure.

"I go to dialysis, to a clinic, three days a week -- Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday -- and they hook me up to a machine to clean my blood for four hours each time on there," Nakata says in the video.

He has been on a national kidney-pancreas list for nearly four years, but recently was taken off that list because doctors said he is too sick to undergo the double transplant surgery, which takes about nine hours. Instead, he has been moved to a kidney-only list. His time on the previous list will be used to determine his place on the new list.

Family and friends have been unable to provide a match for Nakata. He has type O-negative blood, which means he can only receive a kidney from someone with type O blood.

"It makes it more complicated," his wife, Sherry Nakata, told ABCNews.com.