Kidney program gains national renown

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Kidney program gains national renown

By: Tyler Thomas
Posted: 4/17/08

A non-profit organization in Toledo gained national attention for helping people in need of a kidney transplant.

The Alliance For Paired Donation, which started back in 2006, was designed to help those in need of a kidney find a respected match in the United States.

Michael Rees, associate professor and medical director on the Health Science Campus, said the program was designed to help those who lacked funding with finding a kidney.

"The program helps people who can't afford to find a needed donor, locate one and coordinate through different transplant centers across the United States," he said.

The Alliance For Paired Donation is a free program, and so far it has raised more than $150,000, but Rees said that's not nearly enough.

"To fund everything needed, such as staff, we need to raise over $500,000," he said.

Rees said people were told that they had to wait for someone to die before they could get a kidney.

"Now, someone can come along [from the program] and help a person in need by donating a kidney for them [while still alive]," he said. "You then pay it forward by helping someone else."

The average waiting time in America for a kidney is three to five years, Rees said.

"With the help of the Alliance For Paired Donation, the wait time [depending on blood type] is three to six months," he said. "However, that doesn't hold true for everyone, because of the different blood types of people."

Executive Director of Alliance For Paired Donation Laurie Reece said the program has been a huge success so far in helping match people for kidney transplants.

"Our first year, we did a total of 17 transplants, and hopefully by the end of our second year, we would like to do 100," she said.

Reece said the program has been gaining momentum.

"We've received more and more attention for the program as time has gone on," she said. "Before we had a pair [for a match] here and there, and now we can utilize three or four matches at a time."

The first match occurred in October 2006, Reece said, and the first transplant took place in February 2007.

"We've had a total of 19 transplants that have gone through so far, with three more scheduled in the next few weeks, and three more that are slightly behind [those]," she said.

Reece said she thinks that in the future the Alliance For Paired Donation could help thousands of people each year.

"[The Alliance For Paired Donation program] can help Toledo be recognized as a leader in the transplant community," Rees said. "This is an opportunity for the community to invest in something important."

Rees said the people involved in the program have a motto, he said.

"If you can't donate a kidney, at least you can donate some money to help someone else donate a kidney," he said.

http://media.www.independentcollegian.com/media/storage/paper678/news/2008/04/17/News/Kidney.Program.Gains.National.Renown-3332029.shtml