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KANSAS CITY, Missouri – A nurse's decision to donate a kidney to a patient triggered a series of events that led three people to new organs in two Kansas City area hospitals.
Christa Jordan, a nurse from Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, wanted to donate to her friend and patient, Dayshanae Hosman, who had a genetic disorder called Alagille Syndrome and who was dialyzed in April, reported the Kansas City Star.
"I knew it was something I had to do," Jordan said. "It's not something I've asked so much."
Jordan was a transplant match for Hosman, but the University of Kansas Hospital had an even better one: Ky Kanaman, 25, of Baldwin City, Kansas. Kanaman was an "altruistic donor", meaning that he was ready to make a kidney without knowing the potential recipient.
The university hospital told Jordan that it would be better for someone on the list of transplant recipients she did not know, Lauro Zuniga.
Jordan agreed to donate his kidney to Zuniga if Kanaman donated it to Hosman, starting the kidney donation chain.
Carolina Perez, Zuniga's mother, was no match for her son. But when Jordan agreed to give his kidney to Zuniga, Perez then discovered that she could give one of her kidneys to a stranger on the University Hospital's list, Matt Lewis.
Donation chains are rare because they require careful planning by hospitals, from the moment a donor wants to give to a person with whom they do not fit. Then, the hospital can find a donor with whom the donor matches, but does not know it, which triggers conversations to find the best matching donor / recipient match.
Six surgeries were performed in both hospitals on October 29 and 30. The three donors and three recipients gathered at Children's Mercy on Wednesday and several gathered for the first time.
"I have the impression of winning the lottery," said Lewis of Savonburg, Kansas.
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Information provided by: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
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