My name is Zac Zenith. I am 43 years old and I need a kidney. 

I am happily married and the father of two young daughters, Sloane who is 5 years old and Zelda who is 2 years old.  We are a Jewish family who live in Calgary, Alberta and are members of Beth Tzedec synagogue, the Jewish Community Centre, and presently my girls are registered at the Calgary Jewish Academy day school. My grandparents survived the Holocaust.

While I received my Bachelors of Commerce degree from the University of Winnipeg, I returned to Calgary where I entered a career as a mortgage broker. While growing up, sports was the cornerstone of my life. I played competitive tennis as a 'junior' and as a 'senior' at the age of 35 and represented Canada at the 'Worlds' in Turkey. Also as a teenager I represented Western Canada in tennis at the North American Maccabiah Games in Toronto and again in Detroit. As a senior in high school, I played rugby and after graduation, I competed with my team in Australia and New Zealand. It was at the gym that I met my wife, Amber, and our lives continue to include sports, physical fitness, as well as quality time with our girls. 

 In 2002, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune chronic disease called Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). This auto immune disease has attacked and scarred my kidneys and in the past 13 years my kidney function has dropped significantly. A normal person's kidney function is in the 90% range and I am in the 12% range which is very close to ‘kidney failure’. Also, for the past 13 years I have been on a regime of prednisone as well as cyclosporine to stabilize my kidney function.  Unfortunately, the time has come when I now need a 'live kidney donor' to enable me to have a reasonable quality of life and to fulfill my role as a husband and father.

As a young man with very young children, my hope is to find a ‘live donor’ and receive a kidney transplant. My blood type is 0+ and unfortunately, my closest relatives are not a match or suitable donors to age or health issues. My wife, sibling, and first cousins are not the same blood type and therefore are not acceptable donor candidates.

A person can live a full and healthy life with one kidney. A perfect kidney donor is 18-60 years old in very good health. I require a donor with either ‘type O blood’ or a ‘healthy’ donor who will donate their kidney on my behalf to the “Kidney Paired Donation Program” which would then provide me with a suitable match in return.  

If you or anyone you know would be willing to fulfill this great mitzvah by providing me with the “Gift of Life,” I encourage you to contact my friend who is coordinating my search.  Please email [email protected], call my friend Melissa Allen at (403) 612-0370 or check out our Facebook page www.facebook.com/kidneyforzaczenith.

With appreciation for your act of loving-kindness,

Zac Zenith