Kidney exchange chain at Ohio State--a gift transforms 20 lives

 Here's a recent big kidney exchange chain, begun by a nondirected donor, involving patient-donor pairs all at OSU's medical center

The Columbus Dispatch has the story. (If I had written the headline, it would have said "transforming 20 lives," since many of the donors I've met have also been transformed.)

Ohio State Wexner sets record-breaking kidney 'donation chain,' transforming 10 lives   by Samantha Hendrickson

"On Dec. 13, Samantha Fledderjohann donated one of her kidneys to a stranger in need, and in the process, transformed 10 lives.

The 46-year-old was the first of a record-breaking "chain" of 20 surgeries over a two-day period at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Comprehensive Transplant Center, both to remove and transplant kidneys from 10 living donors to 10 recipients. That means 10 people now have another chance to live more of their lives better and longer with a healthy kidney.

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"The transplant swap begins with an "altruistic non-directed" donor like Fledderjohann, who saw a need for more kidney donors, and felt an internal pull to donate even without someone in mind

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"The "chain reaction" continued, thanks to individuals like Carnahan staying on OSU's donor list despite not being a match for a loved one, instead extending that offer to a stranger in need.

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"According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, there are 104,840 people on the transplant waitlist and 90,506 need a kidney in the United States, and 2,079 of them live in Ohio. Ohio State’s transplant center has performed more than 8,500 kidney transplants since 1967."