CHICAGO(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — After years of treating patients dealing with kidney failure, Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Dr. Aleksandra Gmurczyk knows how badly kidney donors are needed.
She also knows some patients won't get a transplant because they don't trust the process, so Gmurczyk decided to become a living kidney donor.
“Because if their doctor donated, and they see that I trust the system, and I believe in this — I believe that transplant is the best option for them ... then maybe they will believe it,” Gmurczyk said.
Dr. John J. Friedewald is medical director of kidney and pancreas transplant at Northwestern.
“Kidneys are in the highest demand, nationally,” he said. “There are about 100,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant.”
Friedewald said kidneys from living donors work sooner and work longer, on average, and he added that living donor transplants are the best treatment for someone with kidney failure.
Gmurczyk's kidney went to a complete stranger in Virginia. In turn, that patient's husband donated a kidney to a patient at Northwestern.
“The hardest step to donation is … deciding to donate, and then the rest is easy,” Gmurczyk said.
April is National Donate Life Month.
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