“Can donating a kidney shorten your life?”

Probably not

In general, donating a kidney at age 19 will not shorten your life. But as with any anesthetic and surgery, a kidney donor can end up with complications or even death during or after surgery - but this is extremely rare. Ask to talk to the anesthesiologist who will do your case, and they’ll provide you with both general and individual risks. You can change your mind any time before receiving a sedative on the way to the operating room. It will be a more painful procedure for you than for the patient getting your kidney. And you would need a good doctor for postoperative pain management. Ask who is going to be writing prescriptions for your postoperative pain. And make sure your pharmacist will fill it. Donating a kidney is an exceptional thing to do for someone else. Once you pass the immediate postoperative period without complications, your life is expected to be just as long as usual. In fact, you will naturally be more careful at taking better care of the one kidney you have.

No. It does not change your life expectancy, and does not appear to increase your chance of kidney failure. In general, most people with a single normal kidney live a normal life. You do have to take more care to avoid medications and procedures that may be hard on your kidneys.