WASHINGTON, D.C. -- More than 80,000 men and women are waiting for a kidney. Seven of them on the transplantation list will die today. The hardest part, finding a donor that matches. This year, doctors were able to take two dozen people off the list and get them new kidneys without having a perfect donor match. The world's largest kidney exchange will change transplant lists forever.

When a young mother of two lost her life, she became the catalyst for the largest kidney exchange in world history.

"I got the call that there was a deceased donor that was a perfect match for me," Said Brenda Wolfe, kidney transplant exchange.

In just one year, Brenda Wolfe went from being perfectly healthy to stage five-kidney failure.

"He said do you know what stage five kidney failure is? I said dang I don’t, how many stages are there? He said five, and that’s when it really hit me. This is a serious situation," Ralph Wolfe, Brenda’s husband, said.

But her husband was not a match, so Brenda signed up for an exchange. Ralph would donate his kidney to a stranger and a stranger would donate a kidney to Brenda and so on. The first 14-way kidney transplant exchange.

"The patients, it’s a leap of faith for them. This is all done anonymously," Keith Melancon, M.D., director, kidney/pancreas transplant program at Georgetown University Hospital, explained.

Over two weeks, on nine different days, at four different Washington DC area hospitals, kidney after kidney after kidney was removed and replaced. All 14 kidneys are working. None have been rejected.

"I try to explain to my friends and family how these donors are different people. They’re a breed apart…they’re beautiful people," Dr. Melancon described.

Ralph says it was just something he had to do … but for the man whose life he saved. It was much, much more.

"He says he loves me…I’m not sure how to take that… hahahaha," Ralph said.

Dr. Melancon says he’s now working on an even bigger exchange. He says for each exchange that happens, another person on the transplant list moves closer to the top.

Kidney Exchange: Saving 14 Lives -- Research Summary

BACKGROUND: According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), approximately 80,000 patients are registered on the kidney transplant waiting list in the United States with the list expanding by 3,000 to 4,000 patients each year. Diabetes is the most common cause of kidney transplantation, accounting for approximately 25 percent of those in the United States. Patients who develop chronic kidney failure must either go on dialysis treatment or receive a kidney transplant to survive.

WHEN YOUR KIDNEY FAILS: Harmful wastes build up in your body, your blood pressure may rise, and your body may retain excess fluid and not make enough red blood cells. When this happens, the patient needs treatment to replace the work of their failed kidneys. (SOURCE: National Kidney and Urologic Disease Information Clearinghouse)

STANDARD PROCEDURE: A surgeon places the new kidney inside the lower abdomen and connects the artery and vein of the new kidney to the patients’ artery and vein. The blood flows through the new kidney, which makes urine, just like the original kidneys did when they were healthy. Unless they are causing infection or high blood pressure, the original kidneys are left in place. Transplantation is not a cure; it’s an ongoing treatment that requires one to take medicines for the rest of their life. (SOURCE: National Kidney and Urologic Disease Information Clearinghouse)

ORGAN DONATION: Most transplanted kidneys come from people who have died. However, a growing number of transplanted kidneys are donated by living family members or friends. Living donors may be related or unrelated to the patient, but a related donor has a better chance of having a kidney that is a stronger biological match for the patient. Living donor kidneys are more likely to begin functioning earlier than deceased donor kidneys, which frequently suffer some reversible damage during the kidney transplant and storage procedure. Patients may have to undergo dialysis for several weeks while their new kidney establishes an acceptable level of functioning. And the wait for a donated kidney can be years long. (SOURCE: National Kidney and Urologic Disease Information Clearinghouse)

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Jessica Vucci
Executive Assistant
Georgetown University Hospital
(202) 444-6058
Jxw33@gunet.georgetown.edu