84-year-old Texan Frank Dewhurst knew his neighbor Linda, 72, was in pain renal failure For years. But one day, while walking in his neighborhood, he discovers in his neighbor’s garden a sign on which the latter had written “I am type O and I need a kidney transplant. Help me, please. ”It was then that he decided to donate one of his kidneys.
“After having undergone several tests to make sure that I was healthy enough, I was authorized to make a donation and I am very happy to have been able to do so” he explains on the site of the ‘Houston Methodist Hospital (United States) where the transplant went smoothly. 48 hours after the operation, Frank Dewhurst left the hospital and resumed his daily activities, as if nothing had happened. Yet he had just become the oldest kidney donor in the United States.
“On average, more than 60% of kidneys from living donors last more than 10 years, compared to 46% from deceased donors”said Dr Hassan Ibrahim, head of the nephrology department at the Methodist Hospital in Houston. “This is why we encourage patients to find a living donor. For them, the chances of never having kidney problems after a transplant exceeds 99%.”
In the United States, more than 200 people over the age of 70 have become living donors since 1995.
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