What We Learned
The need for kidney donations is greater than the number of kidneys available from deceased donors. As such, there are three ways to become living kidney donors:
#1. Directed Living Donors: Directed Donors are living kidney donors with compatible blood types who are willing to name the people to receive their donated kidneys. Their kidney donations are directed to specific recipients. Mike's wonderful sister-in-law Sue was his Directed Living Donor.
#2. Non-Directed Living Donors: Donors who don't have specific recipients identified can become Non-Directed Donors. These donors are also known as Altruistic or Good Samaritan Donors for their selfless Gifts of Life.
Following surgery, Non-Directed Donors who have donated their kidneys through one of the more than 100 transplant centers in the United States participating in the National Kidney Registry (NKR) Voucher Program are eligible to receive "vouchers" for family members OR non-family members. These vouchers can then be redeemed to receive priority should they need transplants in the future. Yet, NKR vouchers cannot be redeemed at non-participating transplant facilities, so Non-Directed Donors should consider working with only NKR participating transplant centers. For the nearest participating NKR transplant center, go to www.NKR.org.
Mike's friend Sarah was a recent Non-Directed Donor and listed Mike as a NKR voucher recipient (through the NKR-participating Mayo Clinic) should Mike need another kidney transplant in the future. Mike's wife Tansy recently qualified as a Non-Directed Donor and is awaiting her kidney donation surgery.
#3. Paired Exchange Program: This program allows incompatible kidney donor-recipient pairs (usually spouses or relatives) to swap kidneys with other incompatible pairs to create compatible matches for kidney recipients.
The good news is that the number of living kidney donors is increasing. In 2023, nearly 6,300 living-donor kidney transplants were performed in the U.S. -- and that number is slowly climbing.