What to expect as a living kidney donor

For those with kidney failure, the wait for a new kidney can take years. There just are not enough organs from deceased donors to fill the need. Fortunately, a person can live a healthy life with just one kidney, making living-donor kidney transplants an alternative to deceased-donor transplants. This means a healthy kidney is removed from a donor and placed into a patient whose kidneys are not working properly.

“As long as you’re healthy and have good kidney function, then you could potentially qualify to be a kidney donor,” said Dr. Carrie Jadlowiec, a Mayo Clinic transplant surgeon.

Both surgical and medical risks are low, thanks to advanced technology.

“For all kidney donors, that risk is less than 1%, which is what we see within the general population,” Jadlowiec said.

It’s a minimally invasive surgery. Full recovery can take up to six weeks, but many people start feeling better around three weeks.

— MAYO CLINIC NEWS NETWORK