Living Organ Donation
Living Donation, most often associated with kidney donation, can save the life of someone facing a long and uncertain wait. Living donors can donate to family, friends, or anonymous candidates. Each year about 6,000 transplants around the country are made possible by living donors.
Who Can be a Living Donor?
A living donor should be in good overall physical and mental health, must be 18 years of age or older and compatible with the intended transplant candidate.
When considering living donation, it is critical to gather as much information as possible and to be informed of all the known risks involved. The choice to be a living donor should be made without any pressure or guilt. To become a living donor, contact one of the following renal transplant centers located in New Jersey:
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (Barnabas Health)
Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Saint Barnabas Medical Center (Barnabas Health)
Kidney Exchange Programs
For patients who could not use a living donor because they were incompatible, there is the option of the living donor paired exchange program. In New Jersey, there are three options: the National Kidney Registry (NKR), the Alliance for Paired Donation (APD) and the UNOS Kidney Paired Donation Program (KPD).
What is Paired Donation, or Paired Exchange?
Paired donation or paired exchange involves two pairs of living kidney donors and transplant candidates who do no not have matching blood types. The two candidates “trade” donors so that each candidate receives a kidney from a donor with a compatible blood type.
For more information, download the UNOS Brochure on Living Donation.
