His mother, Deanna, urgently looked for alternatives. However, by the time he was 21, and a junior in college, his donated kidney was rapidly failing. At just 18 months old, Taylor received a kidney from his father. This was the second kidney transplant for 22-year-old Taylor Kroeger. I can spend more time with my son and my family.” She and her husband, Randy Martinez, signed up. It was then that Marilyn discovered the “kidney swap” program. After her diagnosis, she began dialysis and was placed on the waiting list in January 2014. She had spent most of her days in bed, suffering from excruciating pain. Marilyn Huggins, 36, began experiencing kidney failure in 2013. “He is my best friend, my hero – he saved my life and someone else’s too,” Bonnie said. This selfless act turned Bonnie’s life around. “As a bonus, I am also able to help someone whom I did not yet know to also receive the gift of life.” “My primary motivations were to help her live a full, long, healthy life, that would allow her to be a part of our sons’ lives for many, many years to come,” Craig said. When she got sick and was placed on dialysis, he sought help and came across the Paired Kidney Exchange Program. Best friends and married for 35 years, Craig was always there for his wife – actively supporting her drive to accomplish her professional and personal goals. Patricia added, “The surgery and hospital care at Jackson Memorial was world class.”īonnie Glover, 54, received the same type of unconditional love and support from her husband Craig. I’m not even sure how to describe them except, as wonderful angels.” “They are professional, detail oriented, technically proficient, and extremely knowledgeable. “The entire Jackson Health System team, including the Miami Transplant Institute personnel and all Jackson Memorial staff were, and continue to be, incredible,” said John. However, the couple signed up for the Paired Kidney Exchange Program after being informed that an even better match could be found. John’s wife, Patricia was willing to donate, and was thankfully found to be a match. Eight years later, after having moved to South Florida, John found hope at Miami Transplant Institute. After a few doctor visits, he was told it was only a matter of time before his kidneys ceased to function and that he would require dialysis. During a TIA related hospital visit in Chicago, his blood pressure was found to be dangerously high, which damaged his kidneys. They were caused by a temporary decrease in blood supply to the brain. One of the recipients was 64-year-old John Russell who, for more than a decade, suffered from Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs), also known as “warning strokes”. During a press conference at Jackson Memorial Hospital, the donors and recipients met for the first time. The four pairs consisted of three married couples, and a mother and her son. “The patients do not have to linger on a waiting list and it lessens the amount of time a patient needs to be on dialysis because they can be transplanted at any point with a living donor.” “It is the heart and soul of the kidney program because it generates the best results,” said Giselle Guerra, MD, medical director of the Living Donor Kidney Program at Miami Transplant Institute. The simultaneous surgeries on a single day in April, involving four living-donors and four grateful recipients, were made possible by Miami Transplant Institute’s nationally recognized Paired Kidney Exchange Program– the only one of its kind in the region. "My thought immediately was that we could help each other and stop the suffering of two families," Wimbush, 45, told " Good Morning America." "I called Rodney immediately and he and I were both just committed to moving forward and trying to help two families.Physicians at the Miami Transplant Institute (MTI) at the UHealth/Jackson Memorial Medical Center are being hailed for setting yet another milestone by performing the first four-way paired kidney exchange transplant in Florida. Susan Ellis and Tia Wimbush, who have worked together at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta for more than a decade, both knew each other's husbands needed a kidney transplant, but it was not until they saw each other in the bathroom at work last fall and stopped to ask how their husbands were doing that they made a lifesaving connection.ĭuring that conversation - the first in-person conversation they'd had in several months due to the coronavirus pandemic - the coworkers realized that Wimbush's blood type was a perfect match for Ellis's husband, Lance, and Ellis's blood type was compatible with Wimbush's husband, Rodney. A chance encounter in a bathroom at work turned into a lifesaving kidney transplant chain for two coworkers at an Atlanta hospital.
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