Your Living Kidney Donor Isn't a Match - Now What?

Jan 26, 2017 | Mayo Clinic Transplant RN | @mayoclinictransplantrn

You’ve just been to your chosen transplant center for your evaluation for kidney transplant, and your living donor has been evaluated as well. The donor evaluation results are in. Your donor is a good candidate to be a kidney donor, but not a match for you. Your heart sinks. But you’re not alone.

Another donor-recipient pair in the same transplant center has just received the same news. If only you could swap your donor for that other person’s donor and you could both have a kidney transplant by next week. Years ago, this would’ve been a hypothetical scenario. Today it’s a reality.

Paired kidney donation is an innovative practice that some centers, including Mayo Clinic, are participating in to help recipients receive a living donor transplant when their donor is not a compatible match for them. Paired donation can involve two donor-recipient pairs or more, and can lessen the time spent waiting for a kidney transplant.2017-1-12 Kidney Paired Donation Tx Blog

If you’ve found a living kidney donor who is open to exchanging their kidney with someone they don’t know in order for you to receive the best possible match, contact a transplant center that offers paired donation to schedule an evaluation.

Have you participated in paired donation? Leave your thoughts below so others can hear your first-hand experience!

Interested in more newsfeed posts like this? Go to the Transplant blog.

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