Nearly 120,000 Americans are on the waiting list for a life-saving organ transplant, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Almost 100,000 need a kidney and fewer than 17,000 each year will actually receive one.
Dr. Bejon Maneckshana, a transplant surgeon at Hartford Hospital, answers some questions about living kidney donations and some myths about organ donation.
Q. Tell us the importance of living kidney donation.
A. In 2018, 97,000 people were waiting for a kidney. And someone who needs a kidney transplant can spend an average of 4-7 years waiting for an organ donation on the National Transplant Registry. If you have a living donor, the wait time can be just a few months, rather than several years.
Q. What are some of the myths surrounding living kidney donation?
A. Of course the concern of donating your kidney can cause some concern, but everything is done very safely. Most donors spend only 1-4 nights in the hospital and are able to return to daily tasks within a couple of weeks. The risk of complications is low. Donating a kidney does not reduce the donor’s life expectancy. This is a common procedure there are about 6,000 of these procedures every year across the country.
Q. Explain the process if someone decides to donate a kidney?
A. They should contact our transplant program. We first discuss things over the phone, there is an assessment. There is then a compatibility test, lab tests, and team evaluation.
We also have the Living Donor Champion program at Hartford Hospital. The program is designed to empower potential kidney transplant recipient who and their family to get comfortable talking about chronic kidney disease, their need for a kidney donor and the tremendous health benefits of kidney transplantation. The program consists of three sessions of about two hours each. Champions have three goals: become an expert, master tools and techniques to share their recipient’s story and establish a network.
Q. What is the role of an organ donor champion?
A. The role is to share the recipient’s story to raise awareness of their loved one’s need for a kidney donor. It is a chance to be able to answer questions that may arise from these discussions. It is also an opportunity to grow their recipient’s potential audience so that as many people can hear their story as possible. Ultimately, help their loved one find a donor.
If you are interested in learning more about the process of becoming a donor, please reach out to one of our Living Donation Coordinators at Hartford Hospital, Kari Rancourt, RN, at 860.972.9918 or Asamoah (Azzy) Anane, RN, at 860.972.4632. You can get more information on living donation by clicking here.