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Deciding to donate a kidney is one of the most selfless decisions a person can make. Living donors who give one of their healthy kidneys can spare someone with kidney failure from years on dialysis and save a life. It’s hard to think of something most of us can do that has such a direct, lasting impact for someone else.
Getting a kidney transplant is often the treatment of choice when the kidneys stop working, often due to:
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Complications of diabetes
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Inflammation and scarring in the kidneys, called chronic glomerulonephritis
About 17,000 people in the U.S. receive a kidney transplant each year, but more than 101,000 people are on the waiting list. Thousands of them live on hemodialysis, where a machine is connected to the patient to help remove waste from the blood – the most important job of the kidneys.
Dialysis is expensive and time-consuming. It doesn’t replace all functions of the kidney, and it can cause disruptive side effects including muscle cramps, low blood pressure, fatigue, and itchy skin. Plus, it can be very hard to work, travel, or enjoy many different activities when you are on dialysis.
In the Washington D.C. region, it can take three to five years, or more, for patients to match with a kidney from a deceased donor. Every day, 12 people die awaiting a kidney transplant. That’s because the demand for kidneys is far greater than the supply of deceased donor kidneys, which is why living donors are so important.
One kidney can do the work of two, which is why single-organ transplant has been preferred since the first successful kidney transplant, between living twin brothers, in 1954. The best way to help someone with kidney failure avoid years on dialysis is to become a living donor.
Why is living donation the best option?
A living donor kidney is favored over a deceased donor kidney for several important reasons:
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Living donor kidneys have a better chance of being accepted by the recipient’s body.
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Living donor kidneys last longer: an average of 15-20 years versus 10-15 years for transplants from deceased donors.
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Transplants from living donors can be performed before dialysis is necessary.
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Surgery can be arranged and pre-scheduled, so recipients can be prepared to receive the new organ.
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Each person who decides to donate a kidney increases the supply of donor organs, meaning more people can get live-saving transplants.
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Donors experience an excellent quality of life after donation and say they feel good about the opportunity to help someone in need.
Interested in becoming a living kidney donor?
The living donation process.
Whether you’re considering donating to a loved one, a neighbor, or someone you’ve never met, we want to make the process of donating a kidney as easy as possible. There are only a couple of criteria to be eligible:
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You must be over the age of 18
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You can’t have a medical condition related to kidney disease, such as diabetes
Once we receive your living donor referral form, we’ll schedule an evaluation to check your overall health and make sure you’re eligible to donate. In addition to a lot of tests and images, we also speak with each donor to ensure they know all the risks and benefits of surgery.
After a successful evaluation, we will try to schedule the donation and transplant for as soon as possible. Your kidney will be removed with minimally invasive surgery, leaving only a few small incisions, and is implanted in the recipient. The donation procedure takes about three to four hours, and most donors return home the next day.
With experienced surgeons and transplant teams like those at MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute, the risk during surgery is very low. Minimally invasive surgical techniques mean donors can get back to their daily activities sooner than ever before.
To begin the donor evaluation process, call MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute at 202-444-3714 or complete our online form.
Blood type doesn’t matter in kidney donation.
Not long ago, it was common to think that kidney donors and recipients needed to be the same blood type, but that no longer matters. We collaborate with the National Kidney Registry (NKR), an organization dedicated to “increasing the quality, speed, and number of living donor transplants.” Thanks to this partnership, more patients who need a kidney can get one, no matter what their blood type.
When a donor and a recipient are not compatible due to a different blood type or other reasons, Kidney Paired Donation, or Paired Exchange, can help. Together with the NKR, we identify other donor/recipient pairs in a similar situation. We then arrange a “swap.” During simultaneous transplants, each recipient is paired with a matched donor so both recipients get the kidney they need.
Sometimes, “chains” of more than two donors and recipients help even more people get a living donor transplant. Other benefits of participation in the NKR include:
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Donation life insurance and disability insurance
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Lost wage, travel, and lodging reimbursement
Related reading: What You Need to Know About Finding a Living Kidney Donor.
Recovery from minimally invasive kidney donation.
After surgery, it’s common for donors to feel some pain or bloating for a few days. By one week after surgery most people are feeling much better. After two weeks, donors usually feel almost normal, but many people are still fatigued, so we recommend spending 3-4 weeks out of work.
It's important not to do any heavy lifting for six to eight weeks after surgery. After that, donors can resume their normal activities and diet. Follow-up appointments are typically scheduled one week, six months, one year, and two years after surgery.
Studies have shown that in people who have had one kidney removed the remaining organ can show slightly increased function, compensating to filter waste so donors can live a full life after surgery.
Living kidney donors are literal life savers!
MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute offers the expertise of some of the foremost kidney specialists in the nation, and our patients have access to a wide range of pioneering transplant options.
We’re proud to say we have one of the most successful laparoscopic and/or robotic (minimally invasive) living donor programs in the region, and our transplant outcomes and survival rates are among the best in the nation. Our teams of experts include nephrologists, surgeons, dieticians, and coordinators who all work together to make kidney donation and transplant seamless, safe, and gratifying.
I’ve been in the kidney transplant field for many years. I’m always amazed by how moving it is for donors. They all tell me that donation is one of the best things they have ever done. Very few ask for thanks—the presence of a loved one at holiday dinner is all the thanks they need.
