Organ donation: Your questions, answered
In this video, Prisma Health brought together both medical professionals who work with organ donation and transplant surgeries and also someone very special: an individual who made the choice to donate, on the experience involved and why she encourages others to consider making the same choice.
Transplant surgeon Todd Merchen, MD, and transplant nephrologist Keith Superdock, MD, answered questions about kidney transplant surgery, organ donation and more, including:
- Why is National Donor Day so important to those who donate or receive donated organs?
- Why is organ donation important?
- What is a living donor?
- What are the requirements to be a living organ donor?
- What medical conditions might exclude a potential organ donor?
- Why is it important to speak out about organ donation in South Carolina?
- How long does it take from offering to donate to the donation taking place?
- How common is organ rejection after a transplant surgery?
- What is the usual recovery time after organ donation and transplant?
- Does the donor have to pay to donate an organ?
- And more
As well, Jodi Schirtz, a living kidney donor, spoke about her experience and what led her to make the decision to donate her kidney in May of 2009 to help a family friend with polycystic kidney disease.
The family friend’s condition required the removal of both kidneys, leaving her reliant on dialysis until the transplant took place. The family friend received Schirtz’s kidney and was fortunate enough not to experience rejection in the years since.
“We talk about this being the gift of life for someone else,” said Schirtz. “But it felt like such a gift for me.”
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