Several people from the Chicago area have stepped up to help complete strangers. They're donating their kidneys to people they don't know as a way to 'Pay-it-Forward'. The kindness of these people has helped Loyola Medical Center launch the Pay-it-Forward Kidney Transplant Program. It's the first of its kind in the Midwest.
Here's how it works: If I want to donate a kidney to my friend but I'm not compatible, I can donate it to someone else. Then that person's incompatible donor agrees to give a kidney to a third person..and the chain builds from there! Medical professionals are hoping this new approach leads to more kidney donations in the future.
Yesterday, some of the transplant recipients involved in the Loyola chain met their donors for the first time at the medical center in Maywood. Many Chicago news agencies were there covering the story. The CBS version by Jim Williams is my favorite! You can watch the story at the link below. I've listed links to the others below it:
CBS 2: Kidney Transplant Chain May Save Dozens of Lives
NBC 5: "Donor Chains" a Radical Change to Kidney Donation
ABC 7: Loyola hosts 1st Illinois kidney transplant chain
WGN TV: Four Chicagoland residents donate kidneys to strangers
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: 5 good Samaritans start chains of life
CHICAGO SUN TIMES: Four strangers become saviors
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