Opinion: Donating your kidneys does more than you think

Seven years of pain. Seven years of weakness. Seven years of donning a brave face. Seven years of dialysis. 

Seven years of waiting for a life-saving kidney.

For seven years, Liberty freshman Halle Gopee’s grandfather was the victim of pain and suffering as he awaited a new kidney. By the time a family member offered her own, it had been too long. 

Gopee’s grandfather no longer possessed enough strength to recover from a transplant surgery. 

 “I just remember how awesome he was,” Gopee, 18, said. “But at the same time, I only remember him being sick. But I also remember him trying not to be sick in front of us.”

Photo provided by Halle Gopee
REMEMBERING — A younger Halle Gopee sits with her grandfather.

Going through the process of receiving a new kidney, often in a life or death situation, is difficult enough. The process is made even more difficult because viable kidneys are thrown out every day.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, about 12 people die every day waiting for a new kidney, while almost 10 kidneys are discarded daily in the United States. As more reports have emerged regarding this issue, the government and healthcare professionals alike are looking into solutions to lessen the amount of kidneys discarded yearly. 

The U.S. could learn from the French transplant system. This system is less picky with the donor kidneys they accept, but their research proves that these kidneys are perfectly useful in a multitude of cases. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, France uses kidneys from older donors, bringing their average donor age to 56, whereas America’s lies at around 39.

When America discards almost double the amount of kidneys that France does in a year, it’s worth taking a step back and researching other methods. France has a different standard for the kidneys they accept, mainly the age of the donor and whether or not they had more than one chronic disease. Taking this into account, 62 percent of the kidneys discarded in the U.S. would have been used according to the standards of the French transplant system. 

A problem with the use of older kidneys or ones from people with more than one chronic illness is their high price tag. According to CNN, using a damaged or older kidney makes the recovery time of the patient longer and may result in multiple hospital trips. Research done by the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology suggests first lowering the cost of these procedures as incentive to discard fewer kidneys.  

When asked if a new kidney would have prolonged Gopee’s grandfather’s life, Gopee was optimistic. 

“I think [a transplant] would have prolonged his life,” Gopee said. “But he also had other (health) issues.”

Health issues such as high blood pressure led to more and more problems with his heart and kidneys. In this case, using an older kidney would have caused more harmful results than benefits. So while France saves more kidneys per year, in some cases they may not be able to prolong life.

Fortunately, the Trump administration is making moves to transform kidney care, making it the “first kidney-focused executive order since the 1970s,” according to CNN. The core of the bill is essentially to fight kidney related illnesses before a transplant is needed. The bill was passed in July 2019.

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