CENTERVILLE—An average of 11 people die each day waiting for a kidney transplant – that’s one side of a team on a football field. In Utah, there are 260,000 people with chronic kidney disease, 2,000 on dialysis, 38,000 in kidney failure, more than 1,700 transplants and 525 on the kidney transplant waiting list. That’s according to Dr. Donald Morris, nephrologist and Intermountain Healthcare’s kidney transplant medical director.

April is donor awareness month and Morris is encouraging people to consider becoming a living kidney donor through the National Kidney Registry (NKR) that Intermountain participates in. 

“Kidneys from a living donor tend to last twice as long,” he said. “It gives the most desired outcome for patients to return to a normal life.”

The NKR matches donors with recipients through a paired exchange system. Centerville resident Bruce Madsen received a kidney because his friend Jeff Wood was willing to donate his kidney.

“Mr. Madsen needed a donor and his friend stepped forward,” said Morris. “However, he wasn’t compatible so they went into the paired exchange. You don’t have to be a perfect match. The objective is to get the recipient the best match we can.”

Although Wood’s kidney didn’t match Madsen’s, his kidney went to someone else and that allowed Madsen to get a kidney from another donor.

Kory Taylor didn’t have anyone in the exchange program but wanted to donate simply because he wanted to help someone else.

“I started the whole process when I was living in California,” said Taylor. “I had a friend whose grandfather was on the transplant list but he was older and wanted it to go to someone younger who had more life ahead of them.”

Taylor said he Googled it and found out about being a living donor. “There was a program out here and I ended up working with IHC. I did all the paperwork before I moved to Utah.”

He went through the testing process and his kidney was a match for Madsen. “I was able to give a kidney to Bruce,” said Taylor. “That was my main goal – to give my kidney to someone and I accomplished that.”

Wood said he wanted to help Madsen because they’d been good friends for 25 years. “When  he announced he was in kidney failure and needed a transplant he reached out to ask people to consider being a donor and to get tested.”

Being a donor was something Wood felt strongly about. “My mother had kidney disease and was on dialysis before she passed away,” he said. “Then we almost lost my grandson to a heart condition. He had two heart transplants. Our family appreciates so much the love and generosity of the parents who donated their child’s organs so he can remain with us.”

Wood said he had the impression he should fill out the paperwork to donate his kidney to Madsen. “But I got distracted and didn’t complete it. Then about a year later I got those feelings again and completed the paperwork. I was quite surprised when they called me. I have B negative blood type so I wasn’t compatible with Bruce but I found out there was another way through paired exchange. I was all in to help my friend.”

Once the transplant team approved him, Wood was given permission to tell Bruce the good news. “We sat on the back patio and had a conversation,” he said. “I told him ‘your life is about to change.’”

Wood’s kidney went to someone else but after several postponed surgery dates, Madsen finally received Taylor’s kidney on Feb. 20.  

“Back when I started it was hard to ask people to donate,” said Madsen. “It’s a big ask. But I would encourage anyone who is thinking about it to do it. People who donate should understand that one gift is going to affect thousands of lives because of that one act.”

“The impact on Bruce and his family is so, so worth it,” said Wood. “I’d do it over again. People should consider being a donor. Do it to give the gift of life.”

To sign up to be a donor go to: www.IntermountainHealthcare.org/DonateLife