National Donate Month

National Donate Month

>> each week during this month of april, fox 24 news now has been honoring donate life month to bring awarenss to the importance of donation, and we're going to see an expert on live organ donation, and thank you so much for being with us.

>> thank you for having me.

>> so when you're talking about live organ donation, are you talking about altruistic donors?

>> yes, so live kidney donation is when someone who actively wants to donate one of their kidneys to someone else, whether it be someone they know or don't know, so altruistic usually refers to people who want to donate, but don't want to specify who the recipient is, and direct donation is when you have a specific person in mind like your brother or mother >> but in many cases, they meet the person they're donating to, so a lot of relationships have blossomed because of that profound connection.

And how many kidney organ transplants have you performed at usc?

>> well, we had a banner year in 2019, we did over 250 kidney transplants, and we did about 51 living donor transplants last year, which is a record for us.

>> that's incredible.

And we talk a lot about being an organ donor and just putting your information out there to see if you may be a match.

And what are some of the things that people should consider when thing to be a living donor?

>> well, one of the things that we make sure that it's important for people to understand is that living donorsix they need to know that people who are accepted into our program, they oftentimes question, what is living donation, and how is it going to affect my lifespan in the long run?

And what's going to happen with my kidney function in the long run?

And what i can tell them, their lifespan is going to be the same as if they did not donate.

And there are no studies to show that your patient survival is going to be less, and also your risk of dialysis is going to be less than the general population, for the patients who were healthy enough to donate.

>> a lot of people with families will donate to a perfect stranger.

Is there anything that people should consider when donating?

Because say down the line your child may need that kidney,u bub already donated to someone else.

What are the chances or are they nil this you would end up being that perfect donor for your child?

Is there any way to pest to know if you're a match if they need you down the line?

>> that's a difficult situation, and of course we counsel patients to let them know there's always a possibility that that situation could possibly happen.

Now, there were swap programs like the national kidney registry, which is a national program, which says that if you donate to a complete stranger, you'll actually get points in case for instance you ever need a kidney transplant in the future for some reason or one of your relatives might.

>> so i see, you're almost put a little bit at the head of the line?

>> yeah, you are.

You get priority if you've been a previous donor.

>> doctor, you're a neverrologist, and make you can explain what that is.

>> it's a doctor that specializes in kidney diseases and patients, and my specialization is transplant never rolling.

>> can you.

>> can you tell us about the kidney pairing?

>> one in three donors, who want to donate to someone or are healthy enough, and mismatched, so a living donor exchange is for instance, when i wanted to donate to my mom, but we were incompatible.

And someone else wants to donate to their family member, and they're incompatible.

But for instance, if i donate to their family member, and they donate to my mom, and it's like a swap, then instead of having two patients who are not transplanted, you end up getting two patients that are transplanted.

>> that's fascinating and it gives someone food for thought on thousand they can help their fellow human.

And give that second chance at life.

Doctor, i want to thank you so much, and we're going to talk about how easy it is to be a donor coming up in the next segment, dr. casey, thank you for joining us.

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