Friday, March 21, 2008
Matching organ donors03/20/2008 05:55 AM
By: Ivanhoe Newswire
BOSTON, Mass. -- Two strangers matched up on the internet, but it wasn't for love. It was to save a life. Every day, 17 people in the United States die waiting for an organ donation. Now, those who need a transplant are turning to the internet to find a donor.
Jenny Warden was diagnosed with lupus when she was just 21 years old.
"I had a job. I had everything going for me, and then all of a sudden, this hits me," Warden recalled.
At first, the lupus was manageable, but then things quickly took a turn for the worse.
"I started swelling up," Warden said. "I gained 60 pounds in fluid within about a week. It was crazy!"
Matching organ donors
Two strangers matched up on the internet, but it wasn't for love. It was to save a life.
Warden's kidneys could no longer work on their own, which left her only one option: she needed a transplant. So she created a profile on MatchingDonors.com, a website designed to match people in need of a transplant with potential donors. It's different from the national transplant list and it's not designed to take away from it.
"The national list is a deceased donor list, and we're a living organ donor list," said Paul Dooley, CEO and founder of MatchingDonors.com. "We're taking from two different pools of donors, and also, we're raising a lot of donor awareness."
Today, there are more than 98,000 people waiting for an organ transplant. MatchingDonors.com has successfully set up more than 60 transplants and has more than 4,600 potential donors registered.
Within a few weeks, Warden got a message that would change her life.
"He's married, and he lives in Peoria, Illinois, and he's keeping a kidney warm for me," she continued.
The message was from Jason, a complete stranger who saw Warden's profile and wanted to help. A few weeks later, Jason made the trip to California to give Warden one of his kidneys.
"That night he got in the car, and it was instantaneous. We got along. It was great," Warden added
The transplant went off without a hitch! To Warden, the scar from the transplant is a daily reminder of the blessing she received.
The cost to create a profile on MatchingDonors.com s a lifetime membership of $595, most of which goes toward travel and accommodations for donors.
For more information:
MatchingDonors.com
Research Summary:
BACKGROUND: In the United States, more than 98,000 men, women and children are waiting for an organ transplant. According to the American Heart Association, a new name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list every 16 minutes. The nonprofit United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) oversees the national donor list. UNOS has a contract with the Division of Transplantation in the Department of Health and Human Services to uphold the National Organ Transplant Act, a law passed to ensure fairness in the allocation of organs for transplant. The UNOS national list utilizes deceased organ donation, meaning all the organs they allocate to waiting patients come from diseased donors.
THE ALTERNATIVE: Diseased organ donation is extremely important and saves many lives, but living organ donation is equally important. Receiving a live donation is the only alternative to waiting on the diseased list for many patients who are in dire need of a transplant. The practice of live donation dates back to 1954 when a kidney from one twin was successfully transplanted to his brother. Today, more than 6,000 live organ donations take place each year. Organs that can be donated by a living individual include:
Kidney: The most common type of live donation. There is very little risk to the donor because his or her remaining kidney will do the work of two kidneys.
Liver: A living donor can donate a segment of his or her liver which will regenerate once transplanted.
Lung: One lobe of one lung can be donated by a living person.
Intestine: Although it's very rare, a portion of a persons intestine can be donated.
Pancreas: Although it will not regenerate like the liver, a portion of the pancreas can be donated without decreased function for the donor.
Heart: A domino transplant makes some heart-lung recipients living heart donors. When a patient receives a heart-lung "bloc" from a deceased donor, his or her healthy heart may be donated. This procedure is extremely rare.
COMPATIBILITY: There are some restrictions that may keep live donors from freely donating an organ. Blood and tissue compatibility are the most common. Once blood type is matched, simple tests can be done to determine tissue compatibility. Here's a list of compatible blood types:
O -- universal donor
A -- If your blood type is A you can only donate to another person with blood type A or AB
B -- If your blood type is B you can only donate to blood type B or AB
AB -- If your blood type is AB than you can only donate to AB alone
http://news14.com/content/top_stories/594020/matching-organ-donors/Default.aspx
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