Kidney Donors Help Strangers

In July, eight Americans received a chance at a new life thanks to the generosity of kidney donors they had never met.

Four hospitals in Michigan, Maryland, Oklahoma and Missouri took part in what is believed to the largest series of paired donation procedures performed in the U.S.

Under this type of innovative scheme, a group of incompatible donor and recipient pairs are matched with other pairs facing a similar predicament. An altruistic donor—one who is willing to give a kidney to any needy recipient—starts the domino effect, which essentially creates a chain of giving.

Daniel and Sally Bruce of Bad Axe, Michigan are one such couple who took part in the donation. Daniel, 57, received a kidney from a donor in Maryland on June 16, and Sally gave a kidney to a recipient in that state less than one week later.

Sally suggested that the idea of paying kindness forward was part of her inspiration to participate in the paired donation.

"I can live with one kidney. I've watched my husband go through dialysis and kidney failure," she explained. "If I couldn't help him, then I wanted to help someone else."

The doctors who led the transplant say it will serve as a model for a national program.

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