Donors

Deceased

Traditionally, donated organs came from deceased individuals who, prior to death, had indicated their desire to help others through the donation of organs or whose family members made the generous gift of life upon the death of their loved one.

Organs from deceased donors come from a nationwide organ distribution system know as the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), which is operated by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), an independent  nonprofit organization. UNOS maintains a database of eligible transplant patients awaiting organs and establishes the policies that determine which organs are offered to potential recipients across the country.

Because of the large number of people across the country awaiting organs, it can take 3-5 years (or longer) for a compatible donor match to be available for any given individual. The waiting time differs in each region of the country; in New Jersey the median time is approximately 4.5 years.

Living

Increasingly, kidney transplantation is being done with organs donated by individuals who are still living. This donation can be done for a specific individual or in what is known as a “paired exchange”. During your evaluation and while on the “wait list”, your transplant team members will talk with you about living donor possibilities. Should a possible living donor be available, he or she will undergo a similar evaluation and receive similar support services as the potential organ recipient. In addition, the potential donor will be assigned a Living Donor Advocate who will assist them with additional issues they may face.

A kidney from a living donor offers important advantages over kidneys from a deceased donor, including a lower chance of rejection and the convenience of planning and scheduling the transplant for when the timing is best for you and your donor. This might allow you to avoid the need to ever begin dialysis treatments, or, if you have already begun dialysis, it will shorten time that you need to continue treatments from waiting for years for a deceased donor transplant to waiting a few months. The donor may or may not be related to you by blood. So, while a family member (parent, sibling, cousin, etc.) may be a compatible and willing donor, so too, can a spouse or friend.

Paired Exchange 

In the event you are not a compatible match or you are crossmatch positive PAIRED DONATION is an option. While you are waiting for a paired exchange from our affiliated registries we too will be looking at our incompatible pairs at Hackensack University Medical Center to see if there is another pair that you could potentially exchange. Click here to read about our recent paired exchange success story.

Department of Organ Transplantation Referral Online Form