Need for Living Donors Increasing

[Clark]

http://www.wbay.com/story/26507637/2014/09/11/need-for-living-donors-increasing

Need for Living Donors Increasing
By Kristyn Allen

More than 2,000 people are waiting for a kidney donation in Wisconsin.

Since those wait times can last several years, medical experts say there is a growing need for living donors.

Nick Sacotte, a production staff member at Action 2 News, has been waiting for a kidney donation for nearly two years.

The average wait at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, where he is on the list, is three to five years for a deceased donor, but he along with many others are hoping to speed that time up with a living donor.

"I'm hopeful. I've had some dark moments. Some moments where it's like this really sucks and it's really unfair," said Sacotte, 36.

It all started six years ago, when he was diagnosed with diabetes, which went undetected for years causing damage to his kidneys.

Then their function deteriorated further.

"My doctor told me I was sick and going to need dialysis and down the road if I want to get off dialysis I'm going to need a kidney," explained Sacotte.

Sacotte has been on kidney dialysis for a year, every other day for four hours.

The procedure works to clean the blood by filtering out toxins, basically the kidneys' job, but it's a daunting process.

"You work a full eight hour shift and then you spend four hours sitting there when you'd rather be somewhere else," he said.

A potential donor is getting screened, but nothing yet is certain.

"It's like a week of being like the night before Christmas and wondering what am I getting downstairs under the tree. It's been a lot of excitement, a lot of nervousness," Sacotte said.

His transplant coordinator says most people get screened to try to help someone they know.

"There is actually a great need for what we would call altruistic or good samaritan donation where they're not directing their donation to any specific person," explained Stephanie Albano, transplant coordinator at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Potential living donors go through a complex screening process.

For those who are getting tested to help a friend or family member and they're not a match, they can become part of the paired exchange program.

"That allows a live donor to go ahead and donate to someone else they match in exchange for their loved one getting a living donor matched kidney," said Albano.

Donors go through a recovery period, but are generally back to 100% in three to six months.

The testing, donation and hospital stay are paid for by the recipient's insurance or the transplant center in the case of a good samaritan donor.

Albano says that living donors are best because organs function much longer than if they came from a deceased donor, but it's also important to raise awareness for organ donation in general.