The goal of the National Donate Life Living Donor Registry is to be a national-reaching living donor registry that helps reduce access barriers for prospective living donors.
Individuals between the ages of 18-65 who register their decision to be a deceased organ, eye and tissue donor through the National Donate Life Registry, RegisterMe.org, will also be offered the opportunity to register their interest in being a living kidney donor.
The development of the National Donate Life Living Donor Registry is being generously funded by the Fresenius Medical Care Foundation, and DLA is working with key partners including: United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), LifeLogics, CareDx, and the National Kidney Foundation (NKF).
Donate Life America completed the first pilot phase of the National Donate Life Living Donor Registry in October 2021. A regional launch of the National Donate Life Living Donor Registry began in December 2021 and Donate Life America will be growing the program nationwide by phases.
“Donate Life America’s goal is to bring donation opportunities directly to people in their everyday life. Offering the living kidney donation option to individuals who were already making the lifesaving decision to be an organ, eye and tissue donor in the National Donate Life Registry at RegisterMe.org, seemed the clear path to build on generosity. This path will help walk people through the process, easily connecting them with transplant programs, and reducing access barriers for potential living donors.” – David Fleming, President & CEO, Donate Life America
For additional information or questions, please contact: LivingDonation@DonateLife.net
First Living Kidney Donor Through the National Donate Life Living Donor Registry
Camden (left), Koushik Shaw M.D. with St. David’s North Austin Medical Center’s Kidney Transplant Center living donor team (right)
Camden (left), Koushik Shaw M.D. with St. David’s North Austin Medical Center’s Kidney Transplant Center living donor team (right)The Living Donor Registry’s first living kidney donor, Camden Underwood, underwent a successful surgery performed by Koushik Shaw, M.D., on July 12, 2022, at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center. Underwood was a non-directed living donor, which means his kidney was given anonymously to an individual who was on the list for a kidney transplant.
“Living donation gave me the chance to share my good health with someone else. I feel very grateful about the whole experience.”
– Camden, living kidney donor
“We are proud to work with Donate Life America to make living kidney donation more accessible. A living donor kidney is the gold standard of kidney transplants. A living donor kidney is lifesaving. It is a lower risk procedure compared to a deceased donor transplant since the living donor kidney is more likely to be successful in the recipient. This new registry will help increase the availability of kidneys with more life-giving quality for patients who need one.”
– Jacqueline Lappin, M.D., surgical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center.
Learn more about the first living donor through the National Donate Life Living Donor Registry.
The Need
A living donor is an option for patients who otherwise may face a lengthy wait for an organ from a deceased donor. To spare an individual a long and uncertain wait, relatives, loved ones, friends, and even individuals who wish to remain anonymous may serve as living donors.
Kidney and liver transplant candidates who are able to receive a living donor transplant can receive the best quality organ much sooner, often in less than a year.
- More than 100,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list.
- More than 85% of patients waiting are in need of a kidney.
- 11% of patients waiting are in need of a liver.
- In 2021, 6,500 living donor transplants were performed thanks to the generosity of living donors.
