Why become a living organ donor? Thousands of people die each year waiting for donated organs. There never are enough organs to meet the need. Medical science has advanced to the point where donation from a living donor is now possible.
By offering a kidney, portion of the liver, or intestine, living donors offer their loved one or friend an alternative to waiting on the national transplant waiting list for an organ from a deceased donor.
Giving the gift of life to another person is one of the most meaningful things a person can do. Today, more than 6,000 living donors per year give the gift of life to another person, and one in four of these living donors aren’t biologically related to the recipient.
The South Carolina transplant waiting list is the longest for kidneys. Approximately 90% of those on the South Carolina transplant waiting list need a kidney. Most of those patients are African American. Compared to the kidney waiting lists for all other states, South Carolina’s list includes the second largest percentage of African Americans awaiting a kidney. South Carolina is fortunate to have two transplant hospitals with living kidney donation programs to help increase the number of kidneys available for transplant. PRISMA Health is located in the Upstate/Greenville, and MUSC Transplant Center in Charleston.
For more information about other types of living organ donation, visit UNOS’s Transplant Living website.
