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NKF Health Policy Director Becomes Living Donor During Donate Life Month | ||
By: PR Newswire Association LLC. - 13 May 2021 | Back to overview list |
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NEW YORK, May 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- While COVID-19 continues to dominant the United States healthcare system, nearly 100,000 Americans are still on a waitlist for a kidney transplant and each day 12 patients die waiting for a kidney. National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Health Policy Director Miriam Godwin knows these statistics all too well and made the altruistic decision to take action and help others by becoming a living donor during National Donate Life Month in April. Like all incredibly selfless living donors, Godwin made a conscious choice to help others, but please don't call her a hero. "It's difficult to live with the knowledge that some of the most vulnerable people in our society such as the elderly, communities of color, and those with limited financial means are waiting for kidney transplants, especially when kidney patients have been at such exceptionally high risk from COVID-19," said Miriam Godwin, NKF Health Policy Director and a kidney transplant living donor. "It's my job to make kidney transplants more accessible, but the tools to create system-level change are limited and take time. No one should be denied the opportunity for kidney health because of the circumstances of their birth. I became a living donor because I knew I could help one person right now, so I did. It was one of the easiest decisions I've ever made." Health inequities in the U.S. are well-documented for Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian American, or Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander people, who are all at increased risk for developing kidney disease. Black or African American people comprise 13% of the U.S. population yet represent 35% of those on dialysis for kidney failure. Hispanic or Latino people are 1.5 times more likely than non-Hispanic or non-Latino people to have kidney failure. Additional risk factors for kidney disease include diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and family history. "Kidney disease is a public health crisis estimated to affect 37 million adults in the United States, yet 90% don't even know they have it," said Kevin Longino, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation and a kidney transplant recipient. "Miriam doesn't want to be considered special and just wants living donation to be more commonplace, but what she did is incredibly special. The demand for kidney transplantation is so great that we are asking all adults in the U. S. to be more like Miriam and consider becoming a living donor." Approximately 785,000 Americans have irreversible kidney failure and need dialysis or a kidney transplant to survive. About 555,000 of these patients receive dialysis to replace kidney function, 230,000 live with a transplant. Depending on where a patient lives, the average wait time for a kidney transplant can be upwards of three to seven years. Living donations were responsible for a total of 5,726 transplants in 2020. Living organ donation not only saves lives, but it saves money too. Each year, Medicare spends approximately $89,000 per dialysis patient and less than half, $35,000, for a transplant. "We consistently say the ability to save a life through living organ donation is within all of us, yet we're uncertain if people hear our message. To have Miriam – someone who has supported the transplant community throughout her career with her work at NKF -- choose to make this life saving gift is truly inspiring," said Matthew Cooper, MD, Director, Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program, MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute and a member of NKF Board of Directors. "As the region's leading transplant program, we are honored that Miriam purposely chose MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute on her journey to provide this gift of life. Miriam's generous gift facilitated two transplants through a program called Paired Kidney Exchange. If a kidney patient and potential living donor don't have compatible blood types, the donor may consider donating through this program and here's how it works. If the recipient from one pair is compatible with the donor from the other pair, and vice versa– the transplant center may arrange for a "swap"–for two simultaneous transplants to take place. This allows two transplant candidates to receive organs and two donors to give organs although the original recipient/donor pairs were unable to do so with each other. This has been extended to allow chains of donors with multiple linked donor and recipient pairs, often facilitated by a good Samaritan donor, as Miriam did. These donations can take place within a single center or across the U.S., allowing these generous gifts to help many more patients in need. Please consider becoming a living donor. To learn more about NKF, living organ donations, and kidney disease, go to www.kidney.org/livingdonation or the MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute. Kidney Disease Facts About National Kidney Foundation Living Organ Donation Resources: About MedStar Georgetown University Hospital About the National Kidney Foundation
View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nkf-health-policy-director-becomes-living-donor-during-donate-life-month-301290711.html SOURCE National Kidney Foundation |
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