If you are considering becoming a live organ donor this page should help answer some common questions and clear up some misconceptions.
Let’s start with the very basics. There are two types of transplants:
Deceased Donor Transplant
This is when a person has volunteered to have their healthy organs donated upon death. If your driver’s license has you listed as an organ donor, this means at some point you checked a box to specify that you want share your organs when you no longer need them. Good for you! This how a vast majority of transplants happen. When you hear someone say they are on the ‘transplant list’ this is the list they are talking about. There are far more people on the list than there are available organs, leading to a scarcity of potential donors..
Living Donor Transplant
A living donor is a person who volunteers to donate an organ that they can part with while they are still alive. This typically means liver and kidney donors since we can donate a piece of our liver or our spare kidney and live perfectly healthy lives.
In terms of kidney donations, both live and deceased donors are extremely valuable. Live donors are the preferred option whenever possible, especially if the donor is a direct relative, but even non-relatives can be a great match.
Living kidney donors will be the primary focus of this page.
There are three main types of live organ donations:
Directed donation
This is when a donor specifies the person who they want to give the kidney to. Think of when a person volunteers to donate to a relative, friend, or co-worker. This is the most common type that you will hear about.
Non-directed donation
A person basically says, “I’m donating my kidney, I don’t care who you give it to”. This sounds unusual, and it is far less common than a directed donation, but you will be surprised to know that it isn’t as rare as you might think. There are more stories coming out about altruistic donors who just realized they don’t need both kidneys and know that there are countless people out there in need. It’s a great sign that people are beginning to have a better understanding of the importance of organ donors.
Paired Kidney Exchange
In this situation, you have a potential donor but the problem is they are not a match for you. Either they have a different blood type or they have antibodies that make them incompatible.
If you enroll in a paired kidney exchange program, each donor is put in a pool with other donors who also aren’t a match for the person they are trying to donate to. If you get lucky, a donor from that pool will be a match for the patient you are hoping to donate to while you will be a match for the patient that the other donor wants to donate to. It takes some good fortune for it to work out this way, but there have been cases where many donations took place by matching up one long chain of donors and patients.
More information on live organ donation
UNOS Living Donation Site
https://unos.org/transplant/living-donation
What to consider before donating a kidney
https://www.kidneyfund.org/kidney-donation-and-transplant/organ-and-tissue-donation/what-consider-donating-kidney
National Kidney Registry
https://www.kidneyregistry.com
National Kidney Donation Organization
https://www.nkdo.org
Nephcure – Kidney Transplants
https://nephcure.org/intro-to-rkd/end-stage-kidney-disease/kidney-transplants/
