How outdated stigmas can limit living organ donation

Mayra AlmendarezTransplant News

Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger No one has ever accused me of being a drug addict.  In fact, no one has ever even suggested I drank too much or was impaired in any way due to substance use.  I am a pretty reliable, law-abiding, sober person.  But in 2017 when I started the process to donate my kidney to a woman I read about in the newspaper, the suspicion of drug abuse almost derailed …

A living donor’s thoughts on a new calculator for hypertension risk

Karen HandelmanTransplant News

Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger Of all the potential risks facing living kidney donors, three inter-related conditions are typically top of mind – diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. Transplant centers attempt to screen for all three risk factors, typically using pre-determined numerical cut-offs to decide who will be accepted and who will be rejected as a donor. Donor candidates are given some information and some say in how these numbers determine their status, …

Our first Transplant Games: what we learned from attending the 2022 Transplant Games of America

Former StaffTransplant News

Written by Alexis Bobu, Scientific Writer, Houston Methodist Hospital Department of Surgery and J.C. Walter, Jr. Transplant Center    “Meeting transplant patients and families for the first time was meaningful and fulfilling, adding depth to the work that we do.”   The city of San Diego hosted the 2022 Transplant Games of America on July 29 – August 3, 2022 bringing back the world’s largest celebration of life to the transplant community after being canceled in 2020 …

Does age matter?

Former StaffTransplant News

Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger   “I’m probably too old to be a kidney donor,” is a very common concern for those considering living donation.  I know age was very much on my mind when, at age 60, I volunteered to donate to a 56-year-old woman I read about in our local newspaper.  I had recently received a letter from Be The Match®, the national bone marrow donor registry informing me that I would “age …