March is National Kidney Month! Did you know 100,000 people are currently waiting for a kidney transplant?! With so few organs available for transplantation, living donation is the best way we have to continue to save lives. Living donation takes place when a living person donates an organ (or part of an organ) for transplantation to another person.

Transplanting organs from a living donor has the following benefits:

• The quality of organs that are donated by living donors is usually better than organs from deceased donors. These organs last nearly twice as long.
• The waiting time for a patient needing a transplant can be significantly shorter.
• The procedure can be scheduled at a time that’s convenient for both the donor and recipient.
• The time between removing the organ (or part of the organ) and transplanting it in the recipient is less.
• There is a lower chance of rejection. Also, the organ recipient will need fewer and lower doses of anti-rejection medication.