I'm Dr. Jennifer Verbesey, and I am the director of the Living Donor Kidney Transplant Program
at the MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute. So in my position, I'm really lucky that I get
to form meaningful relationships with people who come in and want to be living kidney donors.
I start off by seeing them when they come in for their evaluation.
They usually come in somewhat nervous and anxious about the process. I always like to tell people
I think it would be abnormal if you weren't a little nervous coming in to donate your kidney.
And I get to see them through that evaluation process, hopefully answering all the questions
that they might have or concerns that come up. Then myself and my partner, we get to do all of their
actual surgeries. So, we see them during their inpatient stay, and then I get to follow all
of those patients for two years following their donation. So, it's really a long-term
relationship with these donors, and I think a very meaningful relationship for both them and myself.
We advocate for living donation with all of our kidney recipients. And the reason we do that is
because kidneys that come from living donors tend to work faster and last longer. There are an
amazing amount of people who, unfortunately, need a kidney transplant, probably over or close to a
hundred thousand in the United States today. And the problem is, if you look at a graph, the number
of people who are needing a kidney, the graph is like this, and the number of organs that are
available has stayed straight. So, the gap between the organs that are needed and the organs that are
available is growing every year. And this is really sad because transplants, we know now, are incredibly
successful. They improve a person's quality of life, but they also improve the length of someone's life.
So we want to be able to provide a transplant to every person possible, and living donation is a
huge part of achieving that goal. The kidneys tend to last longer, and we don't have to wait, right for,
we don't have to wait for deceased donors to be available. Not only that, we can schedule a living
donor transplant at the convenience of the donor and the recipient, and usually, that's a lot earlier.
So if someone's waiting for a deceased donor transplant, they may have to wait five to eight
years for that kidney. And the whole time they're waiting, they're on dialysis, and it is difficult
to live on dialysis. So here, when you have a living donor, we can cut that process into literally weeks.
And many times, we can transplant a patient before they ever start dialysis. So we're always, that's
always our goal to find a living donor and to get the person transplanted as soon as possible.
We do a lot of cases through the paired kidney exchange, and we belong to a national program
called the National Kidney Registry. And this is an incredible program that has really opened up
transplant for so many more people. It used to be that if you came in with a donor who wasn't
a match for you, you were kind of out of luck. Now, it's almost flipped 180 degrees where we
don't really care if your donor's a good match for you because we have this incredible program
where you come in, your donor still donates for you. However, you still get a living donor
recipient, but we have swapped kidneys in between. And this happens because we have a lot of other
pairs who are in the same position. People who want to donate to their recipient, but
they can't because they're either a different blood type or they have a positive cross match.
Sometimes, a donor starts a domino effect where we can do 10 or 12 pairs of kidneys
throughout the country. So it has really opened the doors to letting people get
a transplant, even if they come in with a donor who may not be able to donate directly to them.
There are many benefits for our donors and recipients
via our participation in the NKR. So, the first thing is a donor benefit package,
and that involves lost wages and funds for travel for both the patient and a loved one who may come
and help them. This is a really big deal for a lot of our donors. A lot of donors want to
do it, but they hesitate because it's going to be very hard financially for them to miss work for
a couple of weeks. And hopefully, this program alleviates a lot of those concerns.
Paired kidney exchange is a fabulous program.
Basically, you can bring any donor in so that donor, even if they cannot donate to you
directly, we have many other pairs where maybe the donor also can't donate directly to the recipient.
And what we do is, we exchange kidneys. So your donor still donates. You still get a living donor
kidney transplant, and it works out for everyone. We do this through something called the National
Kidney Registry. It's a national program. It's an incredibly well run program. We've done
many, many transplants in the couple past couple years through this program.
The people who come in to donate a kidney, I mean, what could be more incredible than that, right?
They are giving literally a piece of their body to someone else, right.
So the last thing we want to do is it for to cause them any anxiety over finances, over family issues,
whatever it is. We want to make it as convenient and as smooth as possible for those donors. And our
partnership with the NKR has really allowed us to provide a lot of opportunities to donors to make
things easier, basically. So that they can schedule it at their own convenience. They do it when it's
good for them. They can get some wage reimbursement. They can get help with travel. They have long-term
coverage, if God forbid, any complication happened. We're trying to make it so that
it is the best experience possible for donors and that they just don't have to worry. They're doing
something so amazing. Let them come in, and let us alleviate as many worries as possible for them.
Through the National Kidney Registry, our patients are able to take advantage of a lot of
very innovative programs. One of those is the advanced donation program. It was started a
couple of years ago when a grandfather wanted to donate to his grandson. However, the grandfather was
about 72 years old, the grandson was only about 15 years old, and didn't need a transplant right away.
The grandfather really wanted to donate, but he was afraid that by the time the grandson needed it
he'd be 85 years old and that might be getting on a little bit of the older side to donate. So what
the NKR came up with was the advanced donation program. He donated now. His grandson got a chip.
And when the grandson is ready for his transplant, maybe in 10, 15 years, he will come back to the NKR,
say here's my voucher. I'm ready for my kidney. And, he may not get a kidney that day or that week. But
as soon as a kidney is available for him, he will get that transplant. The amazing thing is now the
advanced donation program is used by many patients in different situations. So, we use it sometimes for
spouses who don't want to have surgery right at the same time. So, maybe a wife will donate
in December and then the husband won't get the transplant until March. And, that way they're not
recovering at the same time. She could be around to help him after his surgery. We do it for donors who
are teachers and only want to donate during the summer. We do it for people who, just for whatever
reason, want to do their donation now, but the recipient is not quite ready. So it has really made
donation a much more convenient process for donors. We work around the donor's schedule. So, the advanced
donation program is being used by people all the time now, and it is a remarkably successful program.
In the past, we've had some really remarkable people who come forward. They want to donate a
kidney, but they don't have a specified recipient. We used to call these non-directed donors. So,
someone heard that it's an amazing thing to do. They decided they have two kidneys. They want to
give one. And they come in, and they want to donate. Well nowadays, we have a great program for them.
Because it used to be a lot of people wanted to do that, but sometimes, I would hear
the concern where someone would say, you know, my wife wants me to do this, but she's worried. What if
my kids need a kidney someday? And even though it's an incredibly low likelihood that their kids would
ever need a kidney, I can certainly understand that concern. And now, we can offer them what's
called the family voucher program through the National Kidney Registry. And in this program,
a donor can designate up to five members of their family. They have to all have no kidney disease at
this point. But, all five of those will be put on a list. And if one of them should ever need a kidney
in the future, they will have basically a voucher for a living donor kidney. So instead of being a
non-directed donor completely where someone just donates out of the amazing goodness of their
heart to a needed recipient who needs a kidney, they do that. But they have the added benefit
of placing their family members on a list should they ever need a kidney in the future.
I think that anyone who is considering a kidney transplant or donating their kidney should
seriously consider coming to the MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute, and I don't
just say that because I work there. But, I think that we've put tremendous amount of time and
resources into our program. We have a very well-run program. We did over 300 kidney transplants last
year and that included over 100 living donor transplants which is more than any other center
in this region. And it's not just about the numbers, it's about the outcomes. Our outcomes are fabulous.
And in different areas such as transplant, I think that experience really translates into
excellent outcomes. And I think the fact that we do so many and we've seen almost everything
that you can possibly see, leaves us very well equipped to take care of patients.
And, I also like to think that we take excellent emotional care of patients. I myself see donors
for two years straight, and I pretty much know them all. And, I'm very invested in their
outcome, how they feel about donation, and their relationship with their recipient.