A nice transplant story.

[Romona]

I met a set of twin brothers today. They were older gentleman going to transplant clinic. They are identical twins. 45 years ago one brother gave the other a kidney. That kidney lasted 40 years. They were one of the first transplants in Pittsburgh, no anti-rejection drugs because they were a perfect match. Due to some complications during a procedure for treating a heart condition, the kidney was damaged. The recipient has had another kidney transplanted and is working well after 5 years.
The brother that was the donor ironically suffered the same damage to his remaining kidney during a procedure for his heart 15 years ago. He also had a kidney transplant which lasted until recently, he has started dialysis and is back on the transplant list.
The love these two men have for each other was very heart warming.

[kelliOR]

Tres  magnifigue!  Thanks for the inspiring story  !

[angela515]

Were they identical twins?

'Cause  read somewhere a story about a set of identical twin girls getting transplanted and they didn't have to use rejection meds ever on her b/ she got it from her identical twin sister, so it was like her own kidney and not a forgein body.

[Romona]

Yes they were. The donor was telling me about the surgery. He was put on ice for hours. They were in the same room and they hand carried the kidney immediately from him to his brother. He laughed when he said they were so worried it would fall to the floor. He commented on how things have changed since then. He said that he was told of a new way they can keep a kidney going for 80 hours until transplant.