Living kidney donation
City of Camas Project Manager Jim Hodges, a patient at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, has been on the kidney donation waiting list for more than a year.
While about a dozen friends and family members have gone through the process of being evaluated as potential kidney donors, for various reasons none have been approved.
Although being in the spotlight is outside of Hodges’ comfort zone, because his condition — polycystic kidney disease — is worsening he is reaching out to the community in the hopes of finding a matching donor.
“Through my illness I’ve gotten acquainted with several people in the area that are either waiting for a kidney or know someone that is,” he said. “It’s a much more common problem than people might first suspect, and it’s an awkward situation to be in. There’s no book of etiquette for seeking a kidney donation, and OHSU transplant programs rightly encourage patients to be open about their circumstances with friends and family. But each person has different comfort levels about how to get the message out.”
According to the National Kidney Foundation, there are approximately 100,100 people awaiting kidney transplants in the United States. Fewer than 17,000 will receive one each year. Every day, 13 people die waiting for a kidney.
Most people have two kidneys, but it is possible to live with only one.
Potential living donors are volunteers who are physically healthy, do not have kidney disease, and have a blood type that is compatible with the recipient of the donated kidney.
Donors do not have to be a blood relative of the recipient, and they do not need to be to be the same race, age or gender.
According to OHSU’s clinical transplant services department, a living donor is preferred.
“Being able to receive a transplant from a living donor may allow recipients to be transplanted faster and these transplants tend to last longer than transplants from a deceased donor.”
For more information about living kidney donation, visit www.ohsu.edu/xd/health/services/transplant/kidney/living-donor.cfm; email livingdonation@ohsu.edu; or call (503) 494-8500.
To contact Hodges about being evaluated to become his kidney donor, call him at (360) 909-8031.
