– Julie Cowan on husband John
800 donors in past 10 years give gift to transform a life
More than 800 people in Scotland have helped others by donating a kidney in the past decade.
A healthy person can lead a completely normal life with one kidney, and a kidney from a living donor generally offers the best outcomes for patients with kidney failure who need a transplant.
There are usually two routes to living kidney donation – directed donation, where a friend, relative or partner donates to a loved one; or non-directed altruistic donation which involves a person donating to a stranger who is best matched on the waiting list, usually starting a “chain” of transplants.
The UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme was established to help increase the number of people who can receive transplants from living kidney donors, and the opportunities for patients who wait a long time for a transplant.
Through the scheme, when a donor and recipient already know each other but are not a match, they are paired with another donor and recipient in the same situation who “swap” donors. This can also involve more than two pairs.
The kidney is the most commonly transplanted organ in the UK. A single normal kidney usually provides enough function for an adult, but occasionally two kidneys are transplanted into one patient.
Anyone can volunteer to give a kidney, but it must be something they choose to do and feel comfortable doing.
There is no upper age limit to being a living kidney donor.
To find out more about living donation, go to livingdonationscotland.org