Healthy Kidney Thrown in Trash

Picture from Quinnlin’s transplant. Healthy kidney on top, obviously.

I woke up this morning to a shocking ticker tape news story running across my screen as I watched Good Morning America.

KIDNEY FOR OHIO TRANSPLANT PUT IN TRASH

I found the news story here. A nurse threw it away with medical waste. The kidney was damaged to a point it was not usable for the sister of the man who donated.

“What is often referred to as a “perfect match” are six-antigen matched kidneys, which can be most easily found with siblings. The brother and sister at UTMC were reportedly a six-antigen match.”

The story is heartbreaking. As the mom of two kids who received their kidneys from living donors, just like this man, it’s soul-crushing. What if one of our transplant teams had walked into the waiting room to tell us that news? Thinking about the “perfect” six-antigen match kidney thrown out is so horrific it’s hard to imagine. A six antigen match is usually a match that is too good to true. It’s the kind of match people wish for but rarely get. It is the best compatibility raising the longevity statistics for the graft. (Gage and Quinnlin’s kidneys from Jody and Cheryl were both 1 antigen matches)

It’s hard to imagine how it could happen, right? I think about Gage and Quinnlin’s kidneys coming from a hospital across the street and how the surgeon walked over and picked them up himself. Was he waiting there for it? Probably. Even if he wasn’t, how could it move from a table (like pictured above) to the medical waste pile. The mind cannot comprehend.

I know. It’s rare that this could happen. It’s so rare they think they is the only time it’s ever happened. It’s one in a million chance that’ll never happen until you are the one who needed that healthy kidney that ended up in the trash.

—————

Interested in donating a kidney? Visit KidneyLink.org for information. Or call me. We have two kidney donors that love to share their stories with people considering donating a kidney.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.