Mix, Match, and Switch
Kidney exchanges between strangers are helping to ease the organ shortage and could save thousands of lives
Adamson and Balhatchet are the 33rd and 34th patients to receive transplants at Hopkins. After a somewhat uncomfortable night, all four patients were resting better the next day. Shane Balhatchet even sneaked out of his room to visit his wife. "She looked beautiful," he says. "It was so good to see her."
By Friday, three days post-surgery, Adamson was making plans to visit Williams, who she feels is her real donor, in Michigan. On Saturday night, Williams met the person who actually got her kidney, Balhatchet, for the first time. "It was exciting. We hugged, and we talked about our families," says Williams. "I wasn't quite prepared for the emotion. It feels weird, too, that we're all connected now." It is a strange way to come together, she says, but a good one.
And last week, the Paired Donation Network turned on its computers to start its largest match run ever, on 160 donors and recipients. With more matchmaking among strangers, incompatibility-at least in terms of organs-may become a thing of the past.
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