Kidney Transplant Arranged Through Craigslist Is Canceled

A potential kidney transplant that made news after the potential donor and recipient connected on Craigslist was cancelled, ABC 6 reports, after a chronic disease was found in the donor’s liver.

The donor, Glenn Calderbank, had seen an ad from a person looking for a kidney on the site, and stepped up to offer his own (he himself had lost his wife to kidney failure). The would-be recipient, Nina Saria, has an autoimmune disease and had hoped that the transplant would allow her to go off of dialysis. It wasn’t until the day of the surgery, NJ.com reports, that Calderbank learned he had cirrhosis of the liver and wouldn’t be able to be a donor.

While the transplant was called off, Saria says Calderbank is still a hero for trying to save her life. She’s now back on a list for a donation.

The average wait time for a kidney donation is two years, according to the National Kidney Registry, though some patients are able to speed up the process by receiving a kidney from a friend or family member. Since only one kidney is needed to replace two failed kidneys, a living-donor donation is possible. But the recovery time for a kidney donation can last months, and most donors need several weeks of recovery before returning to work.

Requirements for a kidney transplant include good general health, normal kidney function, being between 25 and 70 years old, and having health insurance coverage. Blood tests can confirm whether two people are a match for a kidney transplant, though a variety of factors, such as chronic diseases, can exclude a person from becoming a living donor. For more information on kidney donation, visit the National Kidney Registry.

Can’t make that big of a commitment at the moment, but still want to make a difference? Register as an organ donor here.

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