Kidney donations connect strangers in 'Chain of Life' forged by transplants

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http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/kidney_donations_connect_stran.html

Kidney donations connect strangers in 'Chain of Life' forged by transplants
Posted by mdowling June 05, 2009 05:00AM

In the span of 36 hours, six patients in New Jersey and New York received kidney transplants in March from six living donors -- all previously strangers -- now connected in a rare six-way "Chain of Life."

Kidney chains are a recent phenomenon designed to overcome a long-standing problem in renal transplantation: donors who do not match the blood or tissue type of a loved one. In the past, that meant two options: continued dialysis, or a transplant from a deceased donor. But the wait for a cadaver kidney is three to seven years, and the organs last, on average, only half as long as those from living donors.
Chain of Life - Kidney transplant chain helps six patients

Chain of Life is a three-part multimedia series by The Star-Ledger

Part 1: A gift of hope unfolds (coming Sunday)

Part 2: A dozen surgeries in 36 hours (coming Monday)

Part 3: Donors and recipients meet (coming Tuesday)

The National Kidney Registry in Babylon, N.Y. is helping to change the transplant math. The registry keeps two lists: the names of altruistic donors, and incompatible pairs -- donors who are unable to give a kidney to a loved one.

The 12 New Jersey and New York residents who either donated or received a kidney in March were part of the National Kidney Registry's first six-way chain. Six perfectly healthy people donating kidneys to six people they never met before, so that a relative or friend could receive a transplant in return.

Without such chains, the numbers are daunting -- about 80,000 people currently languish on the deceased-donor waiting list. Last year, fewer than 17,000 of them received new kidneys.

Now, a computer at the National Kidney Registry splits incompatible pairs of donors and recipients and re-arranges them into matches. Like falling dominoes, one donation leads to another -- a cascade of kindness, with each donor paying the gift of a kidney forward.

The donors in the historic chain that unfolded in New Jersey and New York in March include a business executive, a truck driver and a sanitation worker. The recipients, a nursing home aide, a young mother and a liquor store clerk. All six recipients had chronic and irreversible kidney disease and all of them had spent years on dialysis, a machine that vacuums their blood clean when the kidneys no longer can.

Without a transplant, at least two of them would probably die within five years.

For more information about becoming a living donor, or if you are in need of a kidney, but your loved one is not a match, visit the National Kidney Registry website or call (800) 936-1627.

For more information about living-donor kidney transplant programs:
-- Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Renal Transplant unit: (877) 878-7555 (Tatiana Alvarez)
-- Saint Barnabas Medical Center Renal Transplant Unit: (888) 409-4707 (Marie Morgieviech)
-- The joint Beth Israel-Saint Barnabas renal transplant program website
-- Hackensack University Medical Center: Department of Organ Transplantation: (201) 996-2613 (Joan Abrams)
-- New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center transplant unit website: (212)-517-3099 (Marian Charlton)
-- For more information about all 242 kidney transplant programs across the United States, visit the website for the United Network for Organ Sharing

Comments
Quietstormyl says...

Finally Newark Star Ledger...Great Story.
Posted on 06/05/09 at 9:54AM
dahui says...

An amazing story produced so very well. Excellent work!
Posted on 06/05/09 at 12:13PM
jeanX says...

Yes, great story!
Posted on 06/05/09 at 12:33PM
KidneyGiver says...

I donated a kidney to a stranger. It was the greatest experience of my life! If I can do it again, I would do it again tomorrow.

I now have a project to help others in desperate need of a kidney and have made numerous kidney matches. My brother also donated a kidney - to someone on my list of people who was in desperate need of a kidney.

When someone approaches me that is in need of a kidney and tell me that they have someone who wants to donate a kidney but is not their blood type, I encourage swapping and tell them about the National Kidney Registry. One great example - is a man who was looking for a kidney for his wife. She had a very hard time finding a match because of her high antibodies. Her husband wasn't her blood type, therefore couldn't donate a kidney to her. I asked him if he would be willing to donate a kidney to someone else through the National Kidney Registry and they may have someone who would be a match. And yes! The National Kidney Registry does have someone who is a match for his wife, and G-d willing, if all goes well, the husband will donate a kidney to someone else through the Registry. The only thing though is his wife had become sicker at one point and hope she is still eligible for a transplant.

Point is - more lives can be saved this way - swapping through a great organization like the National Kidney Registry!

More information about this and about kidney donation available thorugh my website.

Also - if you would like to be matched up with someone in desperate need of a kidney - please contact me ast well.

Sincerely,

Chaya Lipschutz
E-mail: KidneyMitzvah@aol.com

WEBSITE: www.KidneyDonor-KidneyMatchmaker.com
Posted on 06/05/09 at 1:02PM
dangerard says...

GO Che-heive Scott!

Sorry he is a friend of mine...
Posted on 06/05/09 at 4:51PM
ffrn says...

good job che heive we are all so proud of the work you do those people at sharing network are lucky to have you are a dedicated professional and are an exemplary model employee,,, those entrusting you with their lives should know that the job will get done and star ledger should be humbled to ahve done a story with you in it god bless J.C. ffrn
Posted on 06/05/09 at 5:45PM