OSU forms record-breaking kidney donor transplant chain, saves lives

On Dec. 13, Samantha Fledderjohann donated one of her kidneys to a stranger in need, and in the process, transformed 10 lives.

The 46-year-old was the first of a record-breaking “chain” of 20 surgeries over a two-day period at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Comprehensive Transplant Center, both to remove and transplant kidneys from 10 living donors to 10 recipients. That means 10 people now have another chance to live more of their lives better and longer with a healthy kidney.

The chain is believed, according to OSU’s Thursday announcement, to be one of the largest in the country and is the largest ever for the institution.

“It’s been a beautiful process, it’s been a beautiful thing to see,” Fledderjohann told The Dispatch with tears in her eyes. “It renews your hope in humanity just seeing things like this and that we’re all here for each other.”

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What’s a kidney donor transplant chain?

When someone needs a kidney, it’s common for a family member or friend to donate one of their own. But even if the donor and recipient are related by blood, that doesn’t guarantee compatible organs for transplant and their tissue and blood may not be a match.

What happens next is “paired kidney donation,” when a transplant team links an incompatible donor and recipient pair with another pair that is incompatible with each other, but compatible with the first pair forming a “chain” of these donors and recipients.

The transplant swap begins with an “altruistic non-directed” donor like Fledderjohann, who saw a need for more kidney donors, and felt an internal pull to donate even without someone in mind. Her kidney went to Scott Humes, a 29-year-old from Delaware who has struggled with kidney health for decades and was on dialysis for months before getting Fledderjohann’s kidney last Friday.

“It was a huge sense of relief off my shoulders. I could finally get back to living my life,” Humes said.

Shawn Carnahan, Humes’ brother-in-law, had offered himself as a donor but wasn’t a match for Humes. He was, however, notified by OSU that he was a match another man, Taurino Sosa. The “chain reaction” continued, thanks to individuals like Carnahan staying on OSU’s donor list despite not being a match for a loved one, instead extending that offer to a stranger in need.

“The generosity of one donor really has a ripple effect. It starts with one person, and it spreads out to many people,” said Dr. Todd Pesavento, the transplant center’s director of medical services. “When (Fledderjohann) first started, she thought she was only going to help one person. She probably didn’t realize she was going to help all these people.”

According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, there are 104,840 people on the transplant waitlist and 90,506 need a kidney in the United States, and 2,079 of them live in Ohio. Ohio State’s transplant center has performed more than 8,500 kidney transplants since 1967.

Around 1,500 of those have been performed by Dr. Amer Rajab, surgical director of kidney transplantation and clinical professor of surgery at Ohio State College of Medicine.

“This is what we live for, this is what we train for, this is what we come to work every day for, you know, to help others,” Rajab said. “And when you achieve such success, it … gives me so much energy. I still have a transplant to do tonight, and I am ready for it.”