Living Kidney Donor

Living donor transplants have many advantages. The first of these advantages is having time to plan the surgery and ability to prepare in advance. Another advantage is that living donor transplants, on average, last twice as long as a deceased donor transplant. This is due to many factors including the donor being healthy and the kidney having less time out of the body, which increases the chances of it working right away.

Because of the advances in anti-rejection medications, a living kidney donor does not have to be a relative. Many successful living kidney transplants come from unrelated donors such as spouses and friends.

Potential living donors are required to be healthy individuals. They cannot have diabetes, high blood pressure, or any chronic condition. Once compatibility has been determined, which can be done with a simple blood test, a medical evaluation will be conducted to determine their suitability as a donor. The testing includes: blood work, EKG, chest x-ray, urine testing, CAT scan of the kidneys, a social work consult, and evaluations by the Donor Nephrologist and Donor Surgeon. Once this evaluation is completed the donor team will make a final decision to approve the donor.

Donors will have an Independent Donor Advocate who will coordinate the entire evaluation and then surgery. The recipient will be contacted upon approval of their donor to discuss the details of their surgery.

There have been recent studies that show living kidney donors have normal life expectancies and do not have any increased risk of developing kidney disease in the future. Potential donors may contact the Donor Advocate for further information:

Christina Fuentes
Living Donor Advocate and Transplant Coordinator
407-303-3626

Click here to download the Living Donor Patient Application.

Helpful Links:

Transplant Living - www.transplantliving.org
Oran Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) - http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/
National Living Donor Assistance Center (NLDAC) - www.livingdonorassistance.org
Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) - www.srtr.org
United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) - www.unos.org
Alliance for Paired Donation (APD) - www.parieddonation.org
American Society of Transplantation - www.a-s-t.org
Coalition on Donation - www.donatelife.net
National Kidney Foundation - www.livingdonors.org