Frank Dewhurst, an 84-year-old man from Texas, recently made history by becoming the oldest living kidney donor in the country. After seeing a sign in his neighbor's yard appealing for a kidney from a blood type O donor, Frank decided to take action. His neighbor, Linda Nall, 72, was in desperate need of a kidney as her own was being attacked by lupus and was starting to fail. After a series of tests confirmed that he was healthy enough to donate, surgeons at Houston Methodist Hospital transplanted one of Dewhurst's kidneys to Nall.
Organ donations from older people should happen more often, as they would be welcome amid shortages. Usually, only one in three people on the kidney transplant list gets one every three years, after which most die or become too unhealthy to remain eligible. Frank had never thought about donating organs before he noticed Nall's signs. After doing some research, he found out that the kidney left after the transplant achieves 70 percent of the function that both provide.
In older donors, who are by definition healthy, the chances of developing kidney disease after donation are actually lower than those of the general population. Setting a record was the farthest thing from Dewhurst's mind. He had simply seen an opportunity to help his neighbor and took it. He proclaims the altruistic act and his new status as the country's oldest living kidney donor.
Many transplant centers are reluctant to use kidneys from living donors from older adult donors due to fear of developing kidney disease after donation, acute rejection, increased length and cost of hospitalization, and worse long-term outcomes. However, it is necessary to expand the group of living donors in a reflective manner as end-stage renal disease has dire consequences. Kidney donation is undoubtedly a major surgery and an older person must have the appropriate level of cardiac fitness, as determined by a thorough cardiac evaluation. Historically, the kidneys of a living donor with a cold ischemia time (CIT) of less than 8 hours have been thought to have a lower incidence of acute rejection with no impact on long-term outcomes including allograft survival.
Karen Beckley gave a kidney to her 85-year-old father and, in doing so, put him in the record book as an older person who has received an organ transplant from a living donor. An 84-year-old man from Texas recently became the country's oldest living kidney donor after donating one of his kidneys to his 72-year-old neighbor at Houston Methodist Hospital. All living kidney donors, especially the elderly, should undergo a thorough preoperative evaluation to minimize the risk of post-surgical complications. Frank Dewhurst's selfless act serves as an example for us all and shows that age should not be a barrier when it comes to helping others.
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