Living donation
More than 100,000 people need an organ transplant today. More people need transplants than can receive them at any given time. Living donation provides more chances of a transplant for some people in need.
Find information for patients and families to understand and navigate organ donation and transplantation below:
Questions and answers for transplant candidates about:
I have a living donor who doesn’t match, what can I do?
Who can be a living donor
Parents, children, husbands, wives, friends, co-workers—even strangers—can be a living donor.
Most living donors provide one of their two healthy kidneys. In less common cases, living donors can donate a part of their liver, lung, or pancreas. A living person may also donate islet cells (the cells inside the pancreas that make insulin).
Another option: kidney paired donation
A person who needs a kidney transplant has a willing living donor. But, the donor is not a match. Kidney paired donation allows people who need a kidney transplant to trade their donors. Each person can receive a kidney from a donor who is a match. Learn more.
Information
- Find a living donor (PDF - 2.0 M; 7/2021)
- Member directory: Find hospitals that perform living donor transplants