Chicago donor cleared to give kidney to stranger
Chicago Tribune | PatrickSvitek
'Nondirected living donation' participant at Northwestern Memorial a rare but growing breed of altruist
By this time next month, Hannah Pilla may have one fewer kidney. And she can't wait.
The recent graduate of Roosevelt University has been cleared for organ donation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, bringing her one step closer to a personal goal: Giving one of her kidneys to a complete stranger.
The 21-year-old's interest in nondirected living donation â€" the medical term for giving organs to a purposely unknown recipient â€" began after she read about it in her seventh-grade social studies class. When a close friend lost a kidney in high school, Pilla found herself making a lighthearted promise.
"I always joked with her and said if she lost a kidney, I would lose mine, too," Pilla recalled.
She then set a more concrete goal: to commemorate her entrance into the adult world with the philanthropic surgery. Her donor approval came Nov. 13, less than a month after she cold-called the hospital about the procedure and a few weeks before she graduated from Roosevelt.
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| Doctor (Joe Raedle, Getty Images) |
The recent graduate of Roosevelt University has been cleared for organ donation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, bringing her one step closer to a personal goal: Giving one of her kidneys to a complete stranger.
The 21-year-old's interest in nondirected living donation â€" the medical term for giving organs to a purposely unknown recipient â€" began after she read about it in her seventh-grade social studies class. When a close friend lost a kidney in high school, Pilla found herself making a lighthearted promise.
"I always joked with her and said if she lost a kidney, I would lose mine, too," Pilla recalled.
She then set a more concrete goal: to commemorate her entrance into the adult world with the philanthropic surgery. Her donor approval came Nov. 13, less than a month after she cold-called the hospital about the procedure and a few weeks before she graduated from Roosevelt.
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