The Living Donor Option
At your evaluation appointment, your Transplant Coordinator will discuss with you the option of a Living Donor. A Living Donor is an alternative for individuals awaiting organ transplantation from a deceased donor—living donation takes place when a living person donates an organ or part of an organ for transplantation to another person.
Living donor kidney transplantation has been done successfully in the United States since the late 1950s. There are several advantages of a living-related donor or a living unrelated donor transplant over cadaveric donor transplants:
- The waiting time is shorter. (The average waiting time, depending on blood type for a cadaveric renal transplant, in this region is up to five years.) A living-related or a living-unrelated transplant can be scheduled for a time that is convenient for both the donor and the recipient.
- Kidneys transplanted from living donors tend to work right away more often.
- Kidneys transplanted from living related and living unrelated donors last longer than kidneys transplanted from cadaveric donors.
Your Transplant Coordinator can explain the details of Living Donation.
Contacting Your Donor Family
Many patients decide at some point after their transplant that they would like to write to the donor family to express their gratitude. Donor families appreciate this gesture. Your gratitude helps comfort them by making the loss of their loved one more meaningful.
Crozer Health encourages written correspondence between organ donor families and transplant recipients. All correspondence is anonymous and identities are kept confidential. Transplant recipients may want to contact the donor family to express their sincere gratitude and to learn about their donor. However, this is a very personal decision, and it’s your decision alone.
Additionally, an organization called Gift of Life manages the correspondence between recipients of organs and donor families to ensure the privacy of each party. They offer guidance on appropriate letter writing. Contact Gift of Life at 1-800-DONORS-1 or visit www.donors1.org.
Kidney Transplant Center
The experienced, highly skilled team at the Crozer Health Regional Kidney Transplant Center at Crozer-Chester Medical Center offers a compassionate, multi-disciplinary approach to organ transplant and patient care. We are conveniently located in Delaware County and proudly serve the Delaware Valley and beyond.
Kidney Donation
When you elect to become an organ donor, your generous, precious gift may save up to eight lives—and enhance many others through tissue donation.