Kidney Donation from Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy leads to match at Loma Linda University Medical Center
24 July 2018 | A kidney donation by Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy, Tracey Newton, has led to a successful match and transplant for Asia Khem, a patient at Loma Linda University Medical Center.
Newton made an altruistic kidney donation in which a healthy person donates a kidney without knowing whom the recipient will be.
Her donation resulted in four people needing kidneys receiving one after a chain reaction was caused where living donors that could not give a kidney to a family member chose to instead donate one to another recipient. Some of the recipients had been waiting years for a kidney.
CBS Local 2 reported that it was the largest chain transplant conducted by the Adventist medical facility.
“Once you donate, you’re kind of like, your heart like the Grinch kind of expands a little more because you donate and you’re like wow, what more can I do?” said Newton.
LLUMC staff are urging people in good health to consider being an “altruistic donor” as there are over 100,000 people nationwide waiting for a kidney transplant.
