Rabbi Ari Sytner Uses Kickstarter To Self-Publish His New Book - The Kidney Donor's Journey: 100 Questions I Asked Before Donating My Kidney

    NEW YORK, NY, September 22, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Rabbi Ari Sytner gave a selfless gift, the gift of life. His book, The Kidney Donor's Journey: 100 Questions I Asked Before Donating My Kidney, reveals the true and inspiring story of his personal journey and aims to show others how they too can save lives. Five years ago, with no personal connection to kidney donation, Ari went on a personal journey to explore what was involved. He spent a full year learning, contemplating and weighing the risks of kidney donation against the value of a human life. The process itself was transformative and he was grateful that at the end of it, he was given the opportunity to share a piece of himself with another person and give the gift of life to a stranger, a single mother of 3 children.

Sadly, in the United States alone, on average 12 people die each day while waiting for a kidney, even though a solution exists. Globally, there are 4 million people who will die without receiving a new kidney. This reality compelled Ari to do something about it. After conducting a survey, Ari was surprised to learn that while most people agreed that donating a kidney was a noble act, most felt that it should remain private and not shared with the world. However, Ari had the notion that if more people did speak up and speak out about donating organs, more lives could be saved in the process.

"I am a huge believer in people and their ability to do kindness for others. Yet, after preparing and teaching a medical-ethics seminar, I accidentally stumbled across the statistics for kidney donation and realized that over 100,000 Americans are waiting for kidneys and will likely die within the next 10 years unless they receive that incredible gift. Therefore, I asked myself what I would be willing to do about it. That began a transformative year-long journey, which culminated in donating my kidney to save the life of a single mother of three children. That is when I realized the true power of human kindness. For the lack of kidney donations in the world are not due to a lack of empathy, caring or love for others. Rather, it is due to a simple lack of awareness about this topic. That is why I wrote, The Kidney Donor's Journey: 100 Questions I Asked Before Donating My Kidney." - Ari Styner

In order to generate the funds to promote the book to a global audience and to be translated into multiple languages, Ari is using Kickstarter to launch his book, "The Kidney Donor's Journey: 100 Questions I Asked Before Donating My Kidney." It is a moving and informative book, aimed at educating and inspiring others to explore the journey of kidney donation. Using Kickstarter, Ari has procured 127 backers to date for his new book, which will be published at the beginning of October. Ari's book is not intended to convince people to donate their kidneys. Instead, it aims to share his own inspiring journey and to raise awareness, so that others can have an easy roadmap to explore the values of life, compassion, kindness and giving.

"If asking a friend to buy you a cup of coffee can feel utterly embarrassing and uncomfortable, imagine the discomfort for a renal patient who must turn to a friend or neighbor and ask them for a kidney." Currently, no book like it exists, aimed at walking people through the struggles, questions, and answers of the entire process, all through the lens of a skeptical donor. Therefore, by crafting this book as a moving and inspiring roadmap, it has the potential to save countless lives. Visit this Kickstarter page to learn more about his book and to join in breaking the silence.

About Ari Styner
Ari Sytner is a serial optimist. He is a rabbi, social worker, therapist, inspirational speaker, Huffington Post contributor, blogger, CEO, organizational strategist, consultant and proud kidney donor. Ari is the Director of Leadership and Community Development for Yeshiva University, where he travels to communities worldwide to train and inspire healthy and functional communal relationships and organizations. He holds a BA in Psychology, MS in Education, MSW in Social Work and is currently a Ph.D. candidate. His positive messages of kindness and optimism universally resonate through all the work he does.

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