TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa General Hospital is helping kidney patients find donors faster through the Paired Kidney Exchange Program.
What You Need To Know
When waiting for a kidney, most recipients wait up to five years, according to the National Kidney Foundation
The Paired Kidney Exchange Program at Tampa General Hospital matches needy recipients with willing donors
45% of donor/recipient pairs could find a perfect match by entering the program, according to Tampa General
When someone is in need of a kidney, they often turn to family first because the wait time for a donor can be as long as five years.
But what if it didn’t matter if your family actually matched? That’s the basis of the exchange program that changed the Penningroth family forever.
Type 1 diabetes has been a near lifelong struggle for Ailey Penningroth. She was diagnosed at just two and a half.
“When I got out of college, I sort of started having a little more fun, and not being as careful about my blood sugars, and that’s when my kidney really started to suffer,” said Ailey.
Ailey received her first kidney transplant in 2008, and she also received a pancreas. But those donated organs, Ailey says, only lasted a few years.
Right before the pandemic, Ailey and her doctors at Tampa General Hospital came to the conclusion: she needed another transplant.
“I thought I was just going on another list,” Ailey said.
But that’s not what happened.
Her brother, UC Berkeley Professor Dylan Penningroth, began working with TGH to see if he was a match. He wasn’t, but that didn’t matter for the Paired Kidney Exchange Program.
This is how TGH explains the program:
“Sometimes a donor is not compatible with the person to whom he or she wants to donate. Through the paired exchange program, that donor could agree to donate to a different, matching recipient. In exchange, the donor’s recipient receives a living donor kidney from someone in the same situation.”
Dylan donated his kidney to a needy recipient, and, in turn, another compatible donor gave theirs to Ailey. It all happened on the same day.
“To me, it seemed like kind of a no-brainer that if it was possible for me to do it, I was going to do it,” Dylan said.
Tampa General says as many as 2,000 additional transplants per year could happen using the partner kidney exchange.
An estimated 45% of donor/recipient pairs could find a perfect match by participating in the nationwide program, according to TGH.
It took Dylan about 3 months to fully recover, while Ailey started feeling better immediately.
“This is just incredible for me. I feel like every single day is a gift,” said Ailey.
“If we can share this story with other people, they might be inspired, and I think people, deep down, fundamentally, are good. And, often, it’s just a matter of giving them a chance to show that side of themselves,” Dylan said.