Kidney donation in dire need, especially for African American population

Kidney donation in dire need, especially for African American population
By Brianne Carter November 12, 2012 - 07:03 am

Read More:D.C., Health, Kidney Disease, Nation
Solomon Weldeghebrial is living a happy, healthy life—just about a week ago, he became the father to twins, completing his now- family of seven. But, just a few years ago, he was not healthy enough to play with his kids—suffering from kidney disease, he was at dialysis three days a week.

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Then in December 2009, a lifesaver by the name of Bill Singleton, stepped in. Singleton did not know Weldeghebrial, but decided to donate life, in hopes of helping anyone. The two were a match and were part of this 26 person chain transplant surgery.

“It’s not so much what I did, it’s hopefully what other people will be inspired to think about doing,” Weldeghebrial said.

According to recent numbers, there are nearly 92,000 people waiting for a kidney and a third of those, like Solomon are African American. In 2011, there were 5,771 living donor transplants performed but only 813 of those kidneys were received by African Americans.

We're also learning more about who could be at risk. According to the October issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, sitting for long periods of time could be linked to the disease known to many is the silent killer. Now the two friends who are grateful for one another are doing all they can to get others to get screened to see if they two could help save a life.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/11/kidney-donation-in-dire-need-especially-for-african-american-population-81979.html