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Living Donation Discussion and News => Living Donation in the News => Topic started by: Karol on June 01, 2013, 02:53:38 AM
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St. Louis Woman Finds Kidney Donor On Facebook
Posted on: 11:43 am, May 31, 2013, by Kelley Hoskins, updated on: 11:07am, May 31, 2013
ST. LOUIS MISSOURI (KTVI)- Popular social networking site Facebook is apparently good for allot more than just chatting with friends and posting pictures. A local St. Louis woman in desperate need of a kidney transplant found a quick match through her Facebook connections.
Candace Pitts knew she would eventually need to find a kidney donor to survive Pitts doctors say due to major complication they put her on dialysis to which she goes seven days a week — nine hours a day. “I’m a strong lady , but I would have to say, it’s been rough this year,” said Pitts.
Pitts suffers from kidney failure and diabetes. Her doctor put her on the donor waiting list, where she was told she would stay for three to five years. Faced with a long wait , Candace decided create a Facebook page called “A Kidney for Candace and provided the criteria on how to become a donor. That’s where her Facebook connection Erin Flowers comes in.
Candace says when she posted the message on Facebook she was surprised to receive a response the next day from Erin. Now the two will not only share a friendship connection on Facebook they will share the gift of life.
Many people are not aware that kidney and liver donations can now come from living donors.
Last year thousands of kidney transplants were performed in the United States, of which 6,277 came from living donors, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. An average of 46 kidney transplants take place each day in this country, while another 13 people who have been waiting for a kidney die each day. About 90,000 are on the transplant list right now.
Doctors say Erin pass all the test and is a perfect match for the kidney transplant. The kidney transplant surgery is set to take place at Barnes Jewish Hospital In St. Louis .
http://fox2now.com/2013/05/31/st-louis-woman-finds-kidney-donor-on-facebook/