File illustration photo shows a doctor performing a surgery.A Toronto real estate agent hoping to help a distant relative became a link in the longest kidney-transplant chain ever undertaken.
Josephine Bonventre learned a cousin living in Brooklyn needed a kidney and she was quite prepared to donate one of hers, the Toronto Star reported.
But while Bonventre's blood type made her a universal donor, her cousin's blood had anti-bodies that made the match less than ideal.
So her cousin suggested she donate her kidney to a stranger, which would put him in line to get a better match from someone else. Her family had reservations but Bonventre decided it was the right thing to do.
"I woke up with fresh thoughts and thought `Why not give it to a stranger? I'll be helping another person and he'll be getting a match that's better for him,'" she told the Stars.
So Bonventre became part of Chain 124, the longest succession of kidney transplants ever. It involved 30 willing donors and 30 recipients involved in 60 surgeries.
The medical saga, which took place last year, was detailed in a lengthy feature article in the New York Times.
The chain of operations began with Rick Ruzzamenti of Riverside, Calif., who decided to donate a kidney to a stranger after chatting with someone at the yoga studio where he worked.
The entire chain of operations took four months, ending with diabetic Don Terry of Chicago receiving a new kidney.
It took military-style planning to arrange operations at 17 hospitals in 11 states, with donated kidneys being flown from coast to coast to ensure each matched the right recipient, said Britain's Independent newspaper.
All the patients failed to have good matches with relatives or unwilling potential donors, necessitating the complex chain of operations involving strangers.
The Independent reported a similar feat would not be possible in Britain because the country's surgical protocol requires all chain transplants to be completed on the same day.
Bonventre went to Brooklyn for preliminary testing and returned a week before the surgery. She was home again 10 days after the operation and later had a checkup with her family doctor, the Star said.
Bonventre was fully recovered after about a month and her cousin, "feels fantastic," she said.
"He has more energy than he's had in a long time."
(AFP Photo)
11 comments