Living-Donor Kidney Transplant – A Life-Saving Option

Living-Donor Kidney Transplant – A Life-Saving Option

If you, or someone you know, is one of the more than 96,000 Americans on the kidney transplant waiting list, every moment is critical. A living donor transplant may be the life-saving solution to getting you off of dialysis, off of the waiting list, and back to being healthy.

During a living–donor kidney transplant, a healthy kidney from a living person is removed and transplanted into a person with a failing kidney. Benefits of a living-donor kidney transplant include:

  • Little or no wait time. Patients can receive the transplant sooner and schedule the surgery at a time that’s convenient for both the donor and the recipient.
  • Quicker recovery time. Both recipients and donors often return to their normal, active lives within weeks to months following living donor transplant surgery because of new minimally invasive surgery procedures.
  • Improved long-term outcomes. Living donor transplant reduces the risk of rejection because the kidney is functioning up until the time of surgery.

Your Living Donor Transplant: 3 Steps to Finding a Donor

Become A Living-Kidney Donor

If you are interested in exploring living donation so that a friend or loved one can receive a kidney transplant sooner, you will be carefully evaluated to ensure that you can safely donate.

A healthy donor must:

  • Be between the ages of 18 and 75
  • Have an adequate support system and financial resources
  • Be in good general health and have no history of:
    • Heart disease
    • Liver disease, including cirrhosis and hepatitis B and C
    • Diabetes
    • HIV
    • Other diseases that could complicate the surgery