A total of ten surgeries took place Monday, January 29th and Tuesday, January 30th… five surgeries to remove the living donor kidneys and five surgeries to implant the gift of life into waiting recipients. The donors and recipients were all doing well following their surgeries and continue to heal.
“These five patients were transplanted by the gift of five people willing to donate and helped by the hard work and contribution of nurses, coordinators, and operating room teams,” Timothy Schmitt, MD, director of transplantation at The University of Kansas Hospital said. “It was an awesome two days.”
The chain began when a donor who was not a good match for his friend was willing to give his kidney to a stranger. His act of kindness inspired others wanting to help loved ones who also were a mis-match.
“Kidney chains like this often begin with a single person willing to give their healthy kidney to someone in need,” Jaime Bartley, MSN, RN and organ transplant manager at The University of Kansas Hospital. “We realized we had a chain of potential donors and recipients. Everyone was eager to help when they realized the potential to save lives.”
There are hundreds of patients at the health system listed for a kidney transplant and often with living donors who are not a direct match. Bartely and physicians agree the complexity of coordinating multiple evaluations, pre-operative visits, surgeries and the follow up care is possible at the health system because of the breadth and depth of the transplant team.
“While our transplant team has the confidence to do what it takes to benefit our patients, none of this would have been possible without the selfless actions of the organ donors,” said Sean Kumer, MD, PhD, physician vice president of operative services at The University of Kansas Hospital. “It takes that first anonymous donor willing to donate a kidney to someone they don’t know and may never meet to get the chain started.”
“It is not uncommon for donors to be incompatible with their intended recipient because of blood type or other complications,” said Amna Ilahe, MBBS, Director, Living Donor Program. “This event shows how creative transplantation can get to make sure a living donor’s desire to help a friend or family member is realized.”
Diane Cibrik, MD, MS, medical director of kidney transplantation, noted live patient kidney donations provide better outcomes for patients, including longer life for the transplanted organ. This, Dr. Cibrik says, was another motivating factor that led to staff working hundreds of hours to create the complex chain.
“A chain of four patients is very common in transplantation. Every time you add another person to the chain, it adds more planning. That’s why this region has never seen a ten-person chain before. Now that we have done a ten-patient chain, we feel we can work together to build larger chains including some chains that go on for years,” said Dr. Cibrik.
Although the surgeries were all performed at The University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, people in the chain came from Independence, Missouri; Wichita, Kansas; Manhattan, Kansas and other home towns not released out of respect of patients request for privacy.
Patients in the video are donor Jonathan Sink, recipient Frank Bolton and his son, donor Dustin Belton, donor Beth Krissek, donor Jennifer Dawes and her husband recipient Shawn Dawes and recipient Stephanie Williams. Medical personnel include Amna Ilahe, MBBS, Director, Living Donor Program,and Melissa Fowler, organ transplant nurse coordinator.
