Donor Diaries
Donor Diaries is a podcast about the beauty and messiness of living organ donation. Get ready for some amazing stories about what happens when people decide to share their organs with other people, when people chose to share life. The sharing of kidneys and other organs is an incredibly fascinating topic that teaches a lot about kindness, love, and life! There are over 100,000 people on the kidney transplant waitlist today, and sadly about 13 people die each day waiting for a kidney that they never receive. One in three Americans are at risk for developing chronic kidney disease and one in nine already have kidney disease. Most don’t even know it. Donor Diaries shares unfiltered stories of kidney donation through the voices of living donors and straight talk from transplant experts who are committed to bringing the conversation of living organ donation to the forefront of society, so patients no longer have to die or suffer while waiting for a transplant.
Donor Diaries
Diane Lee Reporting Live with 1 Kidney | EP 22
Diane Lee Reporting Live with 1 Less Kidney
Diane Lee is an Emmy nominated anchor and two-time Emmy Award winning reporter with more than 20 years of broadcast news experience.
Diane is currently the 7NEWS Consumer Anchor. Her exclusive reports focus on warning them about scams as well as highlighting money saving tips and investigating consumer issues. Diane’s “Here to Help” focus gives her a platform to assist viewers with any issues or questions they have, something that aligns with her desire to uplift others (a value that led her to donate a kidney to a stranger in 2023).
In this episode of Donor Diaries, we get a peek into Diane’s brain, just 3 weeks post-surgery to get a view of what donation looks and feels like right after it happens! Laurie and Diane discuss some of the surprises that can emerge post donation. Not just the physical kind, but the mental and emotional ones that sometimes pop up when we attach to specific outcomes for ourselves or our recipients.
More About Diane
In 2023 Diane won an SCBA Star Award for Investigative Reporting after her story “Before You Sell” helped an Upstate couple save their home. In 2018, she was nominated for Best Anchor among broadcasters throughout the Southeast including the Atlanta market. Prior to that, Diane won a Southeast Regional Emmy Award for a story she did on protecting oneself from identity theft and an Emmy for her investigative story on a debt collection scam.
Before joining WSPA, Diane worked as a weekday morning anchor for FOX23 News in Albany, N.Y., an evening anchor at WYOU, the CBS affiliate in Scranton, Pa, and an Anchor/Reporter at WRNN, a cable news station covering the Hudson Valley counties north of New York City.
In addition to her work in TV news, Diane loves to sing. She performs frequently with the Spartanburg Jazz Ensemble and Spartanburg Community Band. Diane produced a Christmas CD for the Children’s Miracle Network, and the project raised $20,000 for the non-profit in 6 weeks.
Diane graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She lives in Greenville with her husband, elementary age daughter and middle school age son. She is also an avid jogger and hiker.
Links
Diane Lee 7News Consumer Anchor
Alliance for Paired Kidney Donation
Story that Inspired Diane to Donate