Second Largest Kidney Exchange in History
Science Daily
A 2012 Facebook post that led to the reunion of two grade school friends who lost touch 30-some years ago, is now also responsible for planting the seed that would give one of them a life-saving kidney transplant.
Earlier this month, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the National Kidney Registry, in partnership with 18 transplant centers across the country, successfully completed the second largest kidney exchange in history and the largest to be concluded in under 40 days. Dubbed Chain 221, the swap involved 56 participants (28 donors and 28 recipients). Four patients at Penn Medicine, including two long-lost grade-school friends, participated in the chain -- two receiving new, healthy kidneys, and two donating their own kidneys to other recipients in the chain. Of the participating centers, Penn Medicine was the only one in the tri-state region.
The life-saving chain began with a kidney generously donated by University of Memphis Law Professor and local county commissioner, Steve Mulroy. From there, the chain involving a family member or friend of each recipient who volunteered to donate his or her kidney, found its way to 28 patients awaiting life-saving kidney transplants across the country. In the 22nd swap of the chain, Penn Medicine patient Gerard Rozycki, Jr., 51, received the kidney he had been waiting for since he was first placed on the transplant list in December 2011. Diagnosed with a hereditary condition when he was 5-years-old, Rozycki had lived most of his life without any physical restrictions. That all changed a few years ago when test results showed rising levels of the waste product Creatinine in his blood and urine, a clear indicator of kidney failure.
A 2012 Facebook post that led to the reunion of two grade school friends who lost touch 30-some years ago, is now also responsible for planting the seed that would give one of them a life-saving kidney transplant.
Earlier this month, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the National Kidney Registry, in partnership with 18 transplant centers across the country, successfully completed the second largest kidney exchange in history and the largest to be concluded in under 40 days. Dubbed Chain 221, the swap involved 56 participants (28 donors and 28 recipients). Four patients at Penn Medicine, including two long-lost grade-school friends, participated in the chain -- two receiving new, healthy kidneys, and two donating their own kidneys to other recipients in the chain. Of the participating centers, Penn Medicine was the only one in the tri-state region.
The life-saving chain began with a kidney generously donated by University of Memphis Law Professor and local county commissioner, Steve Mulroy. From there, the chain involving a family member or friend of each recipient who volunteered to donate his or her kidney, found its way to 28 patients awaiting life-saving kidney transplants across the country. In the 22nd swap of the chain, Penn Medicine patient Gerard Rozycki, Jr., 51, received the kidney he had been waiting for since he was first placed on the transplant list in December 2011. Diagnosed with a hereditary condition when he was 5-years-old, Rozycki had lived most of his life without any physical restrictions. That all changed a few years ago when test results showed rising levels of the waste product Creatinine in his blood and urine, a clear indicator of kidney failure.
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"You have the power to SAVE lives."
To register as a donor in California:
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org
Outside California:
www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net
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