Here is a fun and interesting quiz about hydration put together by the New York Times (gift article): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/well/water-hydration-quiz.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0lA.RIP0.2p1rxH8reWZJ&smid=url-share

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16709378

3 arrested over payments for organ transplant in Cambodia

Tokyo police said July 7 they have arrested three members of a medical association on suspicion of receiving payments for arranging an organ transplant surgery in Cambodia for a Japanese patient.
One of the suspects, Hiromichi Kikuchi, 66, had previously been arrested over organ transplant operations in Belarus.
The latest arrests came in Japan's first criminal crackdown in connection with receipt of payments for arranging an organ transplant surgery.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the suspects are members of Kokusai Iryo Soudan s***su (International medical consultation office), a general incorporated association based in Tokyo.
They are believed to have taken advantage of the donated organ shortage in Japan to seek profits from desperate patients.
Kikuchi effectively ran the organization with his son, Mitsuru Kikuchi, 42, while Takaki Ando, 66, was the association's representative director, police said.
According to the MPD's living environment division, the three men conspired between November 2025 and January 2026 to solicit Japanese people seeking living-donor transplants overseas.
They referred one male patient from Tokyo to a cooperating hospital in Osaka, where blood tests and other examinations were performed.
A referral letter written by the hospital director was then sent via a Chinese coordinator to a team of Chinese doctors working at a hospital in Cambodia.
The patient traveled to Cambodia in January and, acting on instructions from Kikuchi and others, reportedly handed over about 25 million yen ($154,000) in U.S. dollars to the Chinese coordinator for "local medical expenses."
Police suspect the Chinese medical team performed the living-donor kidney transplant surgery at the hospital in the center of Phnom Penh. The donor was believed to have been a Cambodian woman.
The suspects also instructed the patient to pay about 12.3 million yen into the bank accounts of Kokusai Iryo Soudan s***su and others under the guise of physician honoraria and administrative fees, the MPD said.
The patient was quoted by investigators as saying: "My relatives refused to donate an organ, and no donor could be found (in Japan). I knew it was illegal."
The hospital director in Phnom Penh declined to respond to Asahi Shimbun inquiries, saying only, "I do not want to talk about it."

PREVIOUS OFFENSE
Hiromichi Kikuchi had previously served as a director of nonprofit organization Nanbyo Kanja Shien no Kai (Association for supporting patients with difficult diseases), whose official certification as an NPO was revoked in January.
In February 2023, he was arrested on suspicion of violating the Organ Transplant Law by arranging organ transplants in Belarus without the required government authorization.
He was later convicted and sentenced to eight months in prison. Although he maintained his innocence, the conviction was finalized.
Police said that after Kikuchi was released on bail, he arranged the kidney transplant in Cambodia before his prison sentence started in late January this year.
The MPD suspects that Kokusai Iryo Soudan s***su, established in March 2024, has arranged transplants in Cambodia for several other patients.
Police are continuing their investigation, including interviews with transplant recipients.

DONOR SHORTAGE IN JAPAN
As of the end of 2025, more than 17,000 patients in Japan were waiting for organ transplants, including 15,043 for kidneys, 798 for hearts and 599 for livers.
In contrast, only 158 brain-dead or cardiac-death patients donated organs in 2025. Many patients needing organs have remained on waiting lists for years.
However, to prevent organ trafficking, the international principle is that organ donations and transplantations should be conducted domestically.
Organ transplants overseas can also involve substantial medical risks.
After transplantation, patients must be carefully monitored for signs of organ rejection.
And even after being discharged from the hospital, they must take immunosuppressive drugs, which increase the risk of infections and malignant tumors.
It is believed that some patients who travel abroad for transplants may have not received adequate explanations of these risks beforehand.
"Because the number of organ donors in Japan remains low compared with other countries, overseas transplants are likely to continue," said Takashi Kenmochi, vice president of the Japan Society for Transplantation and a visiting professor at Fujita Health University Hospital.

(This article was compiled from reports by Natsuno Otawara and Tomoyo Fukumiya in Tokyo and Eishiro Takeishi in Phnom Penh.)

https://www.ovid.com/jnls/transplantjournal/fulltext/10.1097/tp.0000000000005764~donor-mentoring-in-private-kidney-paired-donation-programs

Donor Mentoring in Private Kidney Paired Donation Programs: The Need for Transparency and Accountability

• Tayyab S. Diwan, et al.

Transplantation 110(7):p e1555-e1556, July 2026. | DOI: 10.1097/TP.0000000000005764

To the Editor—Living kidney donors have had an enormous positive impact on transplantation, offering thousands of patients improved quality and length of life. The transplant community has long sought to reduce disincentives to living donation, as described by Leonberg-Yoo et al,1 and we strongly support programs that provide financial, educational, and emotional assistance to potential donors. The establishment and continued federal support of the National Living Donor Assistance Center exemplify the importance of this mission.2
We commend the development of donor mentoring initiatives within kidney paired donation (KPD) programs, which aim to provide peer support to individuals considering donation. However, it is important to recognize that some KPD organizations, such as the National Kidney Registry, operate as private organizations (POs) with distinct governance structures, priorities, and commercial interests. These objectives may not always fully align with those of transplant centers or the broader transplant community, potentially creating gaps in transparency and accountability within a process that directly affects donors and recipients.
We recently encountered a concerning example that illustrates the ethical tensions inherent when donor mentors are employed by private KPD organizations. A blood group O donor was contacted by a donor mentor affiliated with a private KPD organization. During a routine text message check-in, the mentor initiated a discussion promoting voucher donation, emphasizing that voucher donors receive priority within the system. The mentor provided hyperlinks to quarterly reports highlighting trends in voucher utilization and the prioritization afforded to voucher donors.
The donor described the interaction as uncomfortable and "pushy," and subsequently contacted our transplant center for guidance. Notably, the communication focused on system-level benefits and prioritization metrics but did not explore critical clinical and ethical considerations specific to this donor-recipient pair.
The discussion was insufficiently individualized and appeared framed toward a preferred outcome. The donor's preferences and the potential downsides of voucher donation were not explored. The mentor did not ask how the donor would feel if they proceeded with voucher donation and their intended recipient never received a transplant. The discussion lacked any reference to recipient factors that could influence the advisability of voucher donation, including sensitization or recipient comorbid conditions. There was also no discussion about why KPD was being used. Often the donor can donate directly to a recipient (eg, compatible pair), but may decide to enter a KPD pool temporarily to see whether the recipient could receive a transplant with improved size or HLA matching. Finally, the average wait times for a recipient to receive a transplant after voucher donation were not mentioned.
This interaction raises concern about whether the mentor's guidance was fully centered on the donor-recipient pair or instead influenced, even indirectly, by organizational incentives to increase voucher participation. When donor mentors are employed by entities that operationally benefit from particular forms of donation, even well-intentioned communication can create perceived or actual conflicts of interest. Transparency regarding these structural incentives, along with a clear commitment to individualized donor-centered mentoring, is essential to maintaining ethical integrity in these situations.
Honesty and transparency are fundamental to the practice of medicine.3 The transplant process, like POs themselves, contains many moving parts, not all of which pertain directly to patient care. Transparency without thoughtful and responsible information disclosure may be counterproductive; excessive or unfocused information can obscure what is most relevant to donors. Transparency is "ethically enabling" only when it provides accurate, pertinent information while minimizing the risk of misunderstanding or misinformation.3
"Accountability is the real prize [of transparency]."4 Accountability is essential to ensuring that organizations uphold their mission and ethical obligations. In this context, the responsibility for accountability to implement changes that meaningfully improve transparency rests with POs. Such efforts can strengthen processes for transplant centers, donors, and recipients alike, fostering the trust required for centers to rely on both the organizations themselves and the information they provide. Accountability, as an ethical principle, requires appropriate disclosure.3 A key concern with donor mentoring programs administered by private KPD organizations is the risk of inadvertent misinformation that prioritizes the needs of the organization over the individual donor's clinical circumstances.
All transplant centers share a fundamental duty to respect donor autonomy and ensure donor safety throughout the evaluation and donation process.5 While KPD programs share these goals, their focus on innovations such as voucher or remote donation may introduce situations in which donors receive differing messages depending on the source of guidance. Donors should be informed of all available options, and this information must be delivered in a balanced, unbiased, and transparent manner.
As stewards of living donor trust, the transplant community must ensure that innovation proceeds with appropriate oversight. Any perception that donor education or support is influenced by business interests risks eroding public confidence in living donation programs, with potentially far-reaching consequences that could discourage future donors.

https://www.kireports.org/article/S2468-0249(26)02930-X/fulltext

EDITORIAL
July 09, 2026
Open Access
Germany's move toward kidney paired exchange and non-directed donation: governance lessons from abroad
Louise Benning1 Send email to louise.benning@med.uni-heidelberg.de ∙ Wan-Zi Lu2 ∙ Klemens Budde3 ∙ Michelle Josephson4
Kidney International Reports, 2026

In 1986 F.T. Rapaport outlined a core idea behind kidney paired exchange: that a registry can coordinate incompatible donor-recipient pairs so that incompatibility becomes a solvable matching problem rather than a barrier to transplantation1. Today, forty years later, Germany is on the verge of making that coordination legally possible. In October 2025, the German federal cabinet approved a draft amendment to the Transplantation Act that would enable kidney paired exchange and non-directed anonymous living kidney donation, while strengthening donor protection and establishing the legal basis for a national program with a central matching function. If operationalized, Germany would move from a restrictive framework for living kidney donation, historically tied to a strict requirement of a close relationship between donor and recipient, toward a governance model that supports kidney exchange and donor chains at scale.

This moment is internationally relevant because Germany now faces the same policy questions that have shaped kidney paired exchange implementation elsewhere. The impending change creates an opportunity to learn from other countries on key issues, including who should govern a registry, which safeguards ensure legitimacy, how to balance privacy and transparency regarding organ quality, and how to promote access without risking commercialization. Rather than being mere technical considerations, these questions are constitutive for the legitimacy and public trust required for kidney paired exchange to function as a public good.

Historical lessons on altruism, donor safeguards, and public legitimacy

Early debates about living kidney donation repeatedly straddled suspicion and admiration. In the 1970s, living non-related and particularly non-directed donors were sometimes portrayed in medical discourse as psychologically unstable or even pathological, raising concerns about whether such donors should be permitted to proceed2,3. Interestingly, Fellner and Schwartz reported broad public support for donation beyond family ties, with 54% participants of a U.S.-based survey stating they would probably or definitely donate to a stranger in need (compared with 93% to a family member), demonstrating that public morale did not necessarily align with professional paternalistic gatekeeping back then3. Moreover, the Transplantation Society explicitly recognized altruism in a statement as a valid motivation rather than an inherently pathological one2. These early debates highlighted that living donation already relied not only on individual motivation but also on institutional trust and credible information.

History offers two more lessons: (i) Donor protection and respecting donor agency are not mutually exclusive: psychosocial assessment, independent counseling, and rigorous consent procedures can reduce coercion and misunderstanding while still recognizing donors as autonomous agents making a deliberate moral choice. (ii) Public legitimacy is fragile and easily lost: If suspicion dominates, programs risk being viewed as illegitimate or unfair. If, on the other hand, enthusiasm and implementation moves faster than safeguards, programs risk scandal, backlash and, ultimately, lose public support. Germany's 2012 transplant scandal, involving the manipulation of patient data to improve waiting-list positions, offers a cautionary example of how deficits in transparency and accountability can erode trust in transplantation more broadly and disrupt an entire program4.

Why coordination is political

Rapaport outlined a national registry for kidney paired exchange which later became rather clearinghouses and national programs1. Ethical discussions in the 1990s framed kidney paired exchange as ethically permissible and socially desirable if programs address risks and benefits, informed consent, privacy, and seek public acceptance5. When kidney paired exchange began to grow in the United States in the early 2000s, program architecture became central: regional and state-based clearinghouses emerged in a fragmented health care system6. This experience demonstrates a persistent trade-off where decentralization can limit match potential and complicate governance while central coordination can increase efficiency but raises questions of accountability, transparency and public trust7.

As kidney paired exchange grew, market design approaches helped formalize how to maximize transplants6,7. The ethical core, however, remained largely unchanged, meaning that kidney paired exchange depends on collective coordination and shared rules, enforcing that legitimacy must be earned not only through outcomes (more transplants) but also through careful process (ensuring fairness, transparency, and safeguards).

The reform begins after the law

Germany's 2025 cabinet decision is best understood as a legal basis of a governance project. The draft reform explicitly points towards a central body to coordinate matching for paired exchange and non-directed anonymous donation, binding medical guidelines that set eligibility criteria and procedural rules for matching and implementation, and strengthened donor protections, including psychosocial evaluation and independent donor accompaniment. For program implementation, three policy choices seem decisive:

1) Registry governance and accountability
A kidney paired exchange program is only as credible as the institution that runs it. Germany must decide how the central matching authority is governed, audited, and protected from potential conflict of interests. Key questions include how criteria are adopted (which organs will be accepted in paired exchange?), how ties will be broken (for example, if two possible match runs yield the same number of transplants, which run is chosen? If different chains could be started by a non-directed donor, which one will be chosen?), and how outcomes are reported. The draft's emphasis on a central matching authority raises the opportunity for national standardization but also increases the need for transparent oversight.

2) Medical guidelines in rulemaking
Germany's system relies on medical self-governance, with the Federal Medical Association (Bundesärztekammer, BÄK) issuing binding guidelines in (transplantation) medicine. The 2025 draft reform extends this guideline-based governance to kidney paired exchange and non-directed anonymous donation, placing eligibility criteria, procedural standards, and matching rules largely in the hands of BÄK rulemaking. Because these guidelines will determine eligibility and operational rules, the program's legitimacy will hinge on whether guideline development is transparent, evidence-based, inclusive of all stakeholders, and publicly accountable.

3) Visible and trusted donor safeguards

Historically, controversies around living donation have led to suspicious perceptions regarding coercion, undue influence, and commercialization. Germany's draft reform addresses this by strengthening donor protection: in addition to the regular mandatory psychosocial counseling and evaluation through an independent commission of the regional physicians' chamber, the transplant centers must appoint an independent living donation companion to support donors throughout the process.

These instruments matter not only clinically, but also socially as they can communicate to the public that the state and profession are committed to optimal donor welfare while also reducing the likelihood that isolated adverse events will delegitimize an entire program.

Guardrails: Issues to watch early

Germany's comparably late adoption of kidney paired exchange provides an opportunity to build legitimacy from the very beginning. This, however, requires attention to at least three dimensions that can influence participation and trust: transparent reporting, equity and access, as well as professional culture (Table 1). 
https://www.kireports.org/action/showFullTableHTML?isHtml=true&tableId=tbl1&pii=S2468-0249%2826%2902930-X

When guardrails are not implemented or at least not visible, patients can be failed in predictable, structural ways when incentives, discretion and oversight do not align, as is currently a concern in the US kidney paired exchange9. For example, questions arise around registries that effectively rule themselves rather than operating within a publicly accountable allocation framework: hospitals must pay to participate, and registries retain discretion over where "bonus" kidneys are allocated to. This would pose a problem because donated kidneys would, in effect, no longer be treated as a national public resource distributed through transparent rules to the best available candidate, but rather as network assets distributed through internal policies. Further, incentives and penalties could intensify pressure on hospitals to pay higher fees to remain in the system, which means no less than monetizing organ flow. Financial conflicts of interest and reduced transparency on behalf of network operators would pose another central threat as this means that not solely patient welfare but potentially revenue might be driving forces, particularly when there is limited government oversight.

These structural concerns matter most when translated into human risk. Evidently, the most emotionally potent failure happens when paired exchange is not a true swap anymore, for instance in non-simultaneous chains or voucher donation, which can create an asymmetry of risk that pairs may not fully understand when being counseled. If not carefully governed and communicated, this can undermine trust in the program. In this context, however, it is important to note that some of these vulnerabilities may be amplified by the US insurance and reimbursement environment and may be less applicable to publicly regulated, solidarity-based European healthcare systems.

The German system should therefore seek to overcome these limitations by embedding KPE within a publicly accountable allocation framework: the matching algorithm, priority rules, and use of chain-ending kidneys should be specified in advance, transparent to participating centers and regulators, and subject to independent audit. Equity should be actively monitored through regular public reporting of participation, match rates, waiting times, and outcomes across patient groups, including highly sensitized patients and those with difficult-to-match blood types. Established European programs, such as STEP in Scandinavia and the Dutch KPE program, offer relevant experience that can inform the development of transparent matching and governance structures in Germany.

Ultimately, decades of debates and global experience have shown that kidney paired exchange is not merely a technical matching problem but, foremost, a challenge of governance. Germany's reform is therefore less a technical innovation than an institutional one: its success will depend on whether a national program is implemented with clear accountability, transparent rules, and strong, independent donor safeguards. If implemented well, kidney paired exchange and non-directed donation can expand access while strengthening public trust in transplantation, particularly living donation. More broadly, establishing such trust-based, well-governed frameworks may also shape the societal and institutional conditions needed for future reforms in the German transplant system, including the introduction of donation after circulatory death programs and the potential shift toward an opt-out organ donation policy.

https://journals.lww.com/jasn/abstract/10.1681/asn.0000001162~evaluating-barriers-to-kidney-transplantation-in-the-united?redirectionsource=fulltextview

Evaluating Barriers to Kidney Transplantation in the United States

• Conor B. Donnelly, et al.

Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 
Publish Ahead of Print, June 20, 2026.
DOI: 10.1681/ASN.0000001162

Abstract

Key Points

• In this cohort study of 720,348 adults referred for kidney transplantation from 2014 to 2025, only 48% were evaluated and 19% were waitlisted.
• Progression from referral to evaluation, waitlisting, and kidney transplantation was limited by individual, center-level, and geographic factors.
• Some centers evaluated and waitlisted patients at rates far below the national average, and low-volume centers had lower rates of transplantation.

Background
Kidney transplantation is a cost-effective, lifesaving treatment of kidney failure, compared with dialysis. Unfortunately, most patients with kidney failure never undergo transplantation.
Methods
Using Epic Cosmos electronic health record data on all patients referred for kidney transplantation from 2014 to 2025, we assessed the stage-specific progression and attrition in the process of evaluation, waitlisting, and kidney transplantation. Center-level and individual (socioeconomic, geographic, and insurance status) factors associated with access to evaluation, waitlisting, and kidney transplantation were characterized using modified Poisson regression.
Results
Among 720,348 referred candidates, the median age was 55 years (interquartile range [IQR], 42–64); 47% of patients were White, 52% were male, and 87% were English speaking. Eighty-five percent of patients lived in urban areas. Of the referred candidates, 48% initiated evaluation, 19% were waitlisted, and 10% ultimately underwent transplantation. Among the referred patients who initiated evaluation, the median (IQR) time to evaluation initiation was 2 (1–4) months after referral; among the patients who were waitlisted, the median (IQR) time to waitlisting was 4 (2–9) months after evaluation initiation. Patients who were never married (adjusted relative risk, 0.94; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.93 to 0.94), had severe obesity (0.70; 95% CI, 0.69 to 0.72), or were from rural zip codes (0.98; 95% CI, 0.97 to 1.00) were less likely to initiate evaluation. Low-volume centers had lower relative rates of transplantation (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.88 to 0.96). In centers with documentation for nonprogression to evaluation, reasons for removal included not meeting criteria/not a candidate (18%), patient decision (13%), unable to contact (12%), death (4%), and financial/insurance complications (7%).
Conclusions
Our study shows substantial attrition before kidney transplant waitlisting.

https://livingdonorsonline.org/donor-experiences/donation-anniversaries/

As July brings us into a different pace of life, with changes of costume and major travel saved for all year for many, we take a moment to remember those among us who had a more interesting story than most about what they did over the summer. We wonder how Barbara and her brother are 53 years later. We hope Kathleen and her brother are vigorous at 69 and 63. And we remember Patti and her husband, who read to her at her bedside for four years. Their story was a significant motivator for me to volunteer to serve as a representative voice for living donors in national public policy development, and still is. 

Whether you are celebrating or mourning, we're here to remember with you and support you as only those who have donated can. Take good care all!

Fifty-third anniversary:
Barbara Outz Johnson donated a kidney to her brother on July 5th, 1973

Forty-ninth anniversary:
Kathleen Mahoney donated a kidney to her brother when she was 20 and he was 14, on July 11th, 1977

Thirty-sixth anniversary:
Joan Schurman donated a kidney to her son on July 8th, 1990

Thirty-first anniversary:
Mare Medernach donated a kidney to her brother, Mark, on July 19th, 1995

Thirtieth anniversary:
David Scott donated a kidney to his sister, Gail Haisley, on July 10th, 1996

Twenty-sixth anniversary:
Laura Hawes donated part of her liver to her mother on July 25th, 2000
Patti McRoberts, a living kidney donor to her husband on July 31st, 2000, never woke up, and died on July 29th, 2004 

Twenty-fifth anniversary:
Jenny Lee donated a kidney to her daughter on July 9th, 2001
Lisa Steele donated a kidney to an unrelated recipient on July 12th, 2001
Stephanie Ritchon donated a kidney to her sister on July 16th, 2001

Twenty-fourth anniversary:
Jess Coleman donated part of his liver to his wife on July 3rd, 2002
Gerda A. Coakley donated a kidney to her brother on July 10th, 2002
Margaret donated part of her liver to her mother on July 12th, 2002
Michaela Robertson donated a kidney to her father, Calder Robertson, on July 16th, 2002
Ted Whitehead donated part of his liver to his brother on July 19th, 2002
Julie Michaels donated a kidney to a friend on July 24th, 2002
Tim Hurley donated a kidney to his son on July 24th, 2002

Twenty-third anniversary:
Steven Seidner donated a kidney to his father on July 8th, 2003
Tom Falsey donated a kidney to a stranger on July 15th, 2003
Patricia donated a kidney to a stranger on July 22nd, 2003
Zell Kravinsky donated a kidney to a stranger on July 22nd, 2003
Donna Vogelgesang donated a kidney to her father on July 30th, 2003
Karen Kennedy donated a kidney to her mother on July 30th, 2003
Linda Marshall donated a kidney to her mom on July 30th, 2003

Twenty-second anniversary:
Gary W. donated a kidney to his father on July 7th, 2004
Lisa Quinn donated a kidney to her mother-in-law on July 7th, 2004
Susan Kuhn donated a kidney to her husband on July 9th, 2004
Kimberly Moity donated a kidney to her husband on July 13th, 2004
Mike donated a kidney to his uncle on July 20th, 2004
Barbara Romine donated a kidney to her daughter on July 28th, 2004
Sherry donated a kidney to her husband on July 28th, 2004

Nineteenth anniversary:
Irismer donated a kidney to her cousin on July 2nd, 2007
Kevin Vericker donated a kidney to his brother on July 5th, 2007
Ellen Sweeney donated part of her liver to her sister, Susan, on July 12th, 2007
Tristan Smith donated a kidney to his 11 year old cousin on July 12th, 2007
Tanya Moder donated a kidney to a stranger on July 17th, 2007
Charissa Cook donated a kidney to her father, Joseph DiBeneditto, on July 18th, 2007
Matt Jones donated a kidney to an unrelated person on July 18th, 2007
Laurie Fosburg Carlo donated a kidney to her sister-in-law on July 20th, 2007
Joyce Hennes donated a kidney to a friend on July 24th, 2007

Eighteenth anniversary:
Marilyn (Moe) Shea donated a part of her liver to her employer on July 1st, 2008
Breann Dobben donated a kidney to her boyfriend on July 7th, 2008
Jonas Read donated a kidney to his childhood friend, Austin Pierce, on July 31st, 2008

Seventeenth anniversary:
Anne Caldwell donated a kidney to a friend from church on July 7th, 2009
Jody Clement donated a kidney to her best friend, Faye, on July 8th, 2009
Macey Leigh donated a kidney to her cousin, Marc, on July 10th, 2009
Cathy Hopkins donated a kidney to her uncle on July 16th, 2009
Jordan Brough donated a kidney to a stranger (and then friend) on July 16th, 2009
Laurie Stuart donated a kidney to her ex-husband, Paul, on July 22nd, 2009

Sixteenth anniversary:
Nicki Hayes became a non-directed kidney donor on July 13th, 2010
Rasula Rashid donated a kidney to her daughter, Firoza, on July 13th, 2010
Tom O'Driscoll donated a kidney to Carolyn Branson, suggested by Chaya Lipschutz, on July 23rd, 2010
Nina Brown donated 60% of her liver to her sister-in-law's best friend, Lynn Deal, on July 15th, 2010
Dawn made a non-directed kidney donation on July 26th, 2010
Betty (Bryant) Shelton made a non-directed kidney donation on July 27th, 2010
Sara Guzman donated a kidney to her husband, Julian, on July 27th, 2010, after he received a liver transplant. He died on November 1st, 2010 due to other complications.
Jeanne Blackburn donated a kidney to an unidentified unrelated person on July 28th, 2010

Fifteenth anniversary:
Jeremy Hunsicker donated a kidney to his sister, Naomi Schlaner, on July 7th, 2011
Rebecca Kelley donated a kidney to her ex-husband, Frank, on July 7th, 2011
David Frazier donated a kidney to his co-worker, Kristen Adams, on July 12th, 2011
Donna Reed Foster donated a kidney to Kerry Anthony Conrad, no relation, on July 13th, 2011 
Patrick Liam O'Connor donated a kidney to his uncle, Francis Nolan, on July 14th, 2011
Julie donated a kidney to her adopted sister on July 15th, 2011
Leticia Rodriguez donated a kidney to her friend, Elizabeth Lopez, on July 20th, 2011
John Milligan donated a kidney to his wife, Jane, on July 22nd, 2011

Fourteenth  anniversary:
Robin donated a kidney to Toby, her son, on July 5th, 2012
Shelli Hudson-Altringer donated a kidney to her brother, Jim Hudson, on July 17th, 2012
Annie Wright donated a kidney to a co-worker as part of a chain on July 19th, 2012

Thirteenth anniversary:
Peggy Williams donated a kidney to an unrelated person on July 3rd, 2013
Maurice Bryant donated a kidney to his father, Alvin, on July 9th, 2013
Nancy B Ross donated a kidney on July 10th, 2013
Jessica Kuhn donated a kidney on July 30th, 2013
Sharon Topai donated a kidney to a dear friend on July 31st, 2013

Twelfth anniversary:
Shipra Singh donated a kidney to his mother, Santosh Singh, on July 7th, 2014
Lynn Bakiares donated a kidney to her husband, Jeffrey, on July 9th, 2014
Randy Browder donated a kidney to his friend, Ronnie Scott, on July 10th, 2014
Ashley Hoyng donated a kidney to an unrelated person on July 22nd, 2014
Yanira Santos donated a kidney to her mother, Carmen Urena, on July 22nd, 2014
Susan Clark donated a kidney to an unrelated person, Yennifer Guitterez, on July 24th, 2014

https://livingdonorsonline.org/donor-experiences/donation-anniversaries/

https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/health/story/teen-17-year-old-boy-allowed-by-delhi-high-court-to-donate-liver-to-father-what-this-means-for-their-health-2938152-2026-07-01

Teen boy allowed to donate liver to father: What this means for their health
The Delhi High Court allowed 17-year-old Pratik Shaw to donate part of his liver to his father. In India, living organ donation by minors is generally prohibited.
Written By: Daphne Clarance

The Delhi High Court has allowed a 17-year-old boy to donate a part of his liver to his father, who is battling advanced chronic liver disease and liver cancer.
The court held that the case fulfilled the strict legal conditions under which a minor can be allowed to become a living organ donor in India.
Justice Mini Pushkarna, in an order passed on June 29, permitted 17-year-old Pratik Shaw to donate a portion of his liver after medical experts found him physically fit and confirmed that he had voluntarily chosen to undergo the procedure without any coercion or financial motive.
His father, Uttam Kumar Shaw, is suffering from chronic liver disease with cirrhosis, portal hypertension, mild ascites, and hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer).

According to the court, a liver transplant is the only life-saving treatment available.
The court also noted that all other close relatives had been medically evaluated, but none were suitable donors. Pratik was found to be the only compatible living donor.
WHY ORGAN DONATION BY A MINOR IS SO RARE
Under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (THO) Rules, 2014, living organ donation by minors is generally prohibited in India.
However, the law allows an exception in extraordinary medical circumstances—when there is no suitable adult donor available and the transplant is the only way to save the recipient's life.
Such cases require informed consent from the minor's legal guardians and approval from the relevant High Court after careful medical and legal scrutiny.
In Pratik's case, the Delhi High Court found that all these conditions had been met.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FATHER'S AND SON'S HEALTH
One of the unique features of the liver is its remarkable ability to regenerate.
Unlike most organs, the liver can regrow after a portion of it is surgically removed.
This means that during a living donor liver transplant, surgeons remove only a part of the healthy donor's liver rather than the entire organ.
For Pratik, the donated portion of his liver is expected to gradually regenerate over the following weeks to months, provided there are no complications and he follows medical advice during recovery.
Most healthy living liver donors are able to return to their normal daily activities after recovering from surgery, although the procedure is still a major operation that carries risks such as bleeding, infection and temporary pain.
For his father, the transplanted liver segment is also expected to grow inside his body and gradually restore normal liver function if the transplant is successful.
The new liver tissue can enlarge to meet the body's needs, offering patients with end-stage liver disease a chance at long-term survival and improved quality of life.
Doctors, however, note that recovery depends on several factors, including the patient's overall health, the severity of liver disease before transplantation, and careful lifelong medical follow-up.
Recipients also need immunosuppressive medicines to prevent the body from rejecting the transplanted liver.

Best wishes to all remembering their transplant stories this month! Add a reminder for us to share for yours! https://livingdonorsonline.org/donor-experiences/donation-anniversaries/

Forty-seventh anniversary:
Elba Ardenghi de Lacabe donated a kidney to her daughter, Gabriela, on June 26th, 1979. Gabriela survived until May 21st, 2014 with another kidney, dying from a condition unrelated to her transplants

Forty-fifth anniversary:
Theresa Wallace donated a kidney to her sister, Kathy Voelker, on June 10th 1981

Forty-second anniversary:
Kathleen Saucier donated a kidney to her father on June 19th, 1984

Thirty-ninth anniversary:
Debbie Sanden donated a kidney to her hubby, Bill, on June 4th, 1987

Thirty-eighth anniversary:
Valentine donated a kidney to her then 14 year old daughter on June 17th, 1988.  Her daughter passed away in 2009

Thirty-seventh anniversary:
Vanessa Opokuyamoah-Freeman donated a kidney to her brother in June, 1989

Thirty-sixth anniversary:
Margy Conley donated a kidney to her brother on June 19th, 1990

Thirtieth anniversary:
Tonya Massey donated a kidney to her brother in June, 1996
Cheryl Carroll donated a kidney to her sister on June 10th, 1996

Twenty-ninth anniversary:
Shelly Dowdle donated a kidney to her son on June 17th, 1997
Ann Taylor donated a kidney to her brother on June 27th, 1997

Twenty-seventh anniversary:
Adam Backstrom donated a kidney to a friend on June 2nd, 1999

Twenty-sixth anniversary:
Bobbiann donated a kidney to her father (since deceased) in June, 2000
Justin Rhodes donated a kidney to his brother on June 5th, 2000
Maureen Boncey donated a kidney to her husband, Paul, on June 5th, 2000
Handi Skorich donated part of his liver to a friend on June 9th, 2000

Twenty-fifth anniversary:
Karl Poythress donated a kidney to a cousin on June 1st, 2001
Chris Garrison donated a kidney to his brother on June 14th, 2001
Stacey M Gachi donated a kidney to her spouse, Nicholas T Gachi, on June 28th, 2001

Twenty-fourth anniversary:
Charity donated a kidney to a friend on June 3rd, 2002
Laura Odom donated part of her liver to her sister-in-law on June 19th, 2002
Laurie Bonner donated a kidney to her cousin, Melissa (Missy) Siemer, on June 28th, 2002

Twenty-third anniversary:
Raymond Fuhrman donated a kidney to his second cousin on June 13th, 2003
Susan Riemenschneider Bentjen donated a kidney to her brother, Bob, on June 25th, 2003

Twenty-second anniversary:
Julie Newland donated a kidney to her daughter on June 7th, 2004
Jenny Oad donated a kidney to Mike Fogelman via LDO! on June 11th, 2004
Gwen donated a kidney to her father on June 15th, 2004
Madalene (Midge) Guererri donated part of her liver to her brother-in-law (now deceased) on June 15th, 2004
Jennifer Currao donated a kidney to a friend on June 16th, 2004
Angi Voris donated a kidney to her brother-in-law on June 24th, 2004
Jackie Mckee donated a kidney to her mother on June 29th, 2004

Twenty-first anniversary:
Diana Morrow donated a kidney to her mother, Barbara Robison, on June 1st, 2005
Marjorie Vukelich donated a kidney to her brother on June 2nd, 2005
Kim Council donated part of her liver to her sister on June 13th, 2005

Twentieth anniversary:
Victoria Dadi donated a kidney to her mother on June 1st, 2006
Sue Entner donated a kidney to her husband on June 5th, 2006
Barbara Douglass donated a kidney to her sister on June 6th, 2006
Tiffany Cutts donated part of her liver to her mother on June 19th, 2006
Joe Eng donated a kidney to his sister on June 27th, 2006
Karen Endsley donated a kidney to her brother on June 29th, 2006

Ninteenth anniversary:
Laleise Curtiss donated a kidney to her sister, Kim, on June 1st, 2007
Dana Swajanen donated a kidney to her Dad on June 5th, 2007
Katy Gagnon donated a kidney to Gabriela, who she met on LDO, on June 5th, 2007.  Gabriela survived until May 21st, 2014, dying from a condition unrelated to her transplants
Lydia Carollo donated a kidney anonymously on June 6th, 2007
Marlin McDaniel donated a kidney to his son on June 6th, 2007
Philip James donated his left kidney to a good friend on June 6th, 2007
Robert Rice donated a kidney to a stranger on June 20th, 2007
Stephanie McGoldrick donated a kidney to her father on June 27th, 2007
Janine McLendon donated a kidney to her friend Chris on June 29th, 2007

Eighteenth anniversary:
Brad Erhardt donated a kidney to Jeff Carlson, an unrelated coworker, on June 6th, 2008
Rebecca Bertha donated a kidney to her brother, Greg, on June 10th, 2008
Moish Drelich donated a kidney to his brother, Max, on June 13th, 2008
Denise Pettenger donated "Sidney", one of her kidneys, to her brother, Mark, on June 17th, 2008
Gillian Turner donated a kidney to her husband, Ian, on June 24th, 2008
Beth Johnson donated a kidney to her father on June 26th, 2008
Noby Takaki donated a kidney to her father on June 26th, 2008

Seventeenth anniversary:
Cathy Duke donated a kidney to her brother-in-law, David, on June 4th, 2009
Laura McEvoy donated a kidney to her sister-in-law, Beth Foster, on June 5th, 2009
Mary Villanueva donated a kidney to her brother, Saldemar, on June 10th, 2009
Bill Clarke donated a kidney to his father, Bill Clarke (yes there were confusions in the hospital!), June 23rd, 2009
Liz donated a kidney to her best friend, Jan, on June 24th, 2009
Ellen Billman donated a kidney to Tony, a co-worker turned friend, on June 25th, 2009

Sixteenth anniversary:
Jim Coletti donated a kidney to a friend on June 7th, 2010. Despite early setbacks, both he and his recipient are well
Peggy Zufall donated her left kidney to a co-worker's son on June 8th, 2010
Judy Rottinghaus became a non-directed kidney donor on June 15th, 2010
Kali donated her left kidney to her husband on June 22nd, 2010
Elaine Damo donated a kidney to her cousin, Patricia, on June 29th, 2010
Joey Whisenhunt donated a kidney to his wife on June 30th, 2010

Fifteenth anniversary:
Lesley Elder donated a kidney to her ex on June 1st, 2011
Marcus Brooks donated a kidney to his Momma, Marie Johns, in June 2011, despite having to get all the preliminary testing and schedule the surgery in secret, against her wishes
Angela donated part of her liver to her mother-in-law, Aura Puello, on June 2nd, 2011
Jocelyn Sherman donated her left kidney to Dana Stibolt, a recipient she found here on LDO, on June 6th, 2011
Lauren Herschel became a non-directed kidney donor on June 7th, 2011
Lisa Fulcher donated a kidney to her best friend's father, Chuck, on June 9th, 2011
Angelica donated her right kidney to her husband on June 10th, 2011
Erika Garcia donated a kidney to a fellow church-goer on June 13th, 2011
Jenn Hames donated a kidney at Johns Hopkins on June 20th, 2011, in exchange for one her husband received in April 2011
Peter Robinson donated a kidney to his sister, Christina Brooker, on June 28th, 2011

Fourteenth anniversary:
Judy Willson donated a kidney to her cousin-in-law, Gary Pate, on June 5th, 2012
Elizabeth Sims donated a kidney to her friend, Fernando Diaz, on June 12th, 2012
Ryan Schaffer donated a kidney to his big brother, Jason Lundell, on June 18th, 2012
Vickie Carmody donated a kidney to her husband, Christopher, on June 19th, 2012
Liz Dailey donated a kidney to her brother, Joe Broin, on June 21st, 2012. "It has been an experience that I will never forget. To be able to give someone that you love a second chance at living a healthy, happy life is an amazing feeling."
Vicki Whitelaw donated a kidney to her friend, Sarah Key, on June 27th, 2012
Donna Aceto donated a kidney to Erin, her friend, on June 29th, 2012

Thirteenth anniversary:
Brad Witt donated a kidney to his brother on June 3rd, 2013
Dave donated a kidney to his Dad on June 20th, 2013
Kerry Frick donated a kidney to her Dad, Ron Andracsek, on June 20th, 2013
Angie A. donated a kidney to her brother, Bill, on June 26th, 2013. Despite his dying 6 months later, she would do it again to give him the five good months he had.
Colleen Glenney donated a kidney as the non-directed leader of a three donor-recipient pairing on June 27th, 2013

Twelfth anniversary:
Kristina Wadsworth donated a kidney to Katrina Fullmer on June 3rd, 2014
Cleton Sarmiento donated a kidney to his sister, Angelica Bergado, on June 9th, 2014

Tenth anniversary:
Beth Simpson donated a kidney to her father, Ronald, on June 1st, 2016

Ninth anniversary:
Amanda Hall donated a kidney to her father, Lonnie Brown, on June 26th, 2017

Fourth anniversary:
Michele Valdez became a non-directed kidney donor on June 7th, 2022. She hasn't yet learned anything about her recipient. "It was one of the best decisions." She's now being tested as a liver donor.
Lauren Miller donated a kidney to benefit Karol Frank's sister Bonnie on June 22nd, 2022

Remember when you could write a message here and add an emoji? 

We lost that ability for an unknown reason when the message board software went through an upgrade. 

But they're back, thanks to help from a programmer friend! 

I hadn't heard of a relationship between low GFR/kidney donation and high parathyroid hormone levels. However, I asked a chatbot (Gemini), and it says there can be a relationship. It cited a 2024 study of 74 living kidney donors that revealed "This reduction in kidney function [from living donation] was accompanied by an increase in parathyroid hormone (PTH) and fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23), key markers in bone and mineral metabolism." An article reviewing the study results is here. So, evidently it's a "thing" for living kidney donors. Who knew? (No me.)

Gemini provided a fairly detailed answer about the relationship, so maybe you can ask your favorite chatbot the question and see what you get.

I'm glad you're seeing a nephrologist!