Last year, the United States surpassed the historic milestone of 1 million transplants from both living and deceased donors. Now, Intermountain Health is doing its part to help the U.S. get to the next million transplants.
April is National Donate Life Month, which brings attention to organ, eye, and tissue donation and transplantation and honors those who have saved lives through the gift of organ donation.
At this time, it’s a good reminder to share with your family your decision to be a donor, check the organ donor box when you renew your driver’s license, and consider the healing gift of sharing a living organ through the gift of transplantation.
Across the country, 104,000 people are currently on the transplant list, waiting for a kidney, liver, pancreas, heart or lungs. Every nine minutes another person is added to the wait list.
In Nevada, 637 people are on on that waiting list for a life-saving organ.
Amanda DuQuette-Roberts found out in her early twenties that her kidney was failing.
She went into stage 4 kidney failure in 2021 and was told she needed a transplant.
Across the country there are 104,000 waiting for a life-saving organ, almost 90,000 of those need a kidney. In Nevada, 637 people are waiting for a transplant.
Depending on blood type and other factors it could take two to seven years to wait for a deceased kidney donation.
Amanda’s sister-in-law wanted to help but wasn’t a match. They were surprised to learn Intermountain Health is part of the National Kidney Registry’s paired exchange program.
The exchange program allowed Joan DuQuette to donate her kidney to someone else, and to put Amanda on a living kidney transplant list to find her perfect match. The exchange program has a ripple effect, a sort of chain – where in this case – 12 hospitals were involved. Six donors, six different recipients, from across the country.
“Truly life changing, I feel like a whole new person,” Amanda said. “I don’t think there are words to say the gratitude I am feeling, I’ve said thank you a million times but how is that ever enough.”
Intermountain Health is a premier organ transplant provider in the Intermountain West, providing heart, kidney, liver, pancreas and bone marrow transplants to people in need across the region. Nearly 6,000 living donations take place each year. That’s about four out of every 10 donations.
Intermountain performs living kidney and liver donor transplants to patients, helping reduce the amount of time they spend waiting for an organ. To sign up to become an organ donor go to: www.IntermountainHealthcare.org/DonateLife .
