TWIN FALLS • Brandy Burkhart needs a kidney. Her friend Kristy Buffington has a kidney to give.
In July, Buffington planned to donate one of her kidneys to Burkhart.
“Everything was on track,” Buffington said. “There were hoops we had to jump through. Blood-type and tissue matches, EKGs and MRIs.”
Then the lab discovered “a weird antibody in Brandy’s blood that had resulted in a false tissue match,” she said, “and we found out that we weren’t a match after all.”
“We cried,” Buffington said.
But the friends didn’t give up.
Bruce Garrett, a coordinator with the University of Utah Hospital’s transplant program, suggested the two friends from Twin Falls register for the national Paired Kidney Exchange pool.
The exchange matches donor-recipient pairs who are incompatible — such as Burkhart, 40, and Buffington, 37 — with other incompatible pairs to create a donor chain.
“The chain starts with what we call a ‘Good Samaritan donor,’ someone who steps up, thinking ‘I just want to donate a kidney,’” said Garrett. “Most of us have two kidneys, and we can live with just one.”
A few years ago, the story would have ended when a compatible kidney was found and given to Burkhart. But today, her transplant will be linked with a chain of others.
Buffington will give one of her kidneys to someone in the exchange pool who needs a kidney and has registered with a willing donor.
“All I know is that my kidney is going to a child,” Buffington said Tuesday by phone from Salt Lake City.
She goes in for surgery today.
The child will receive Buffington’s kidney, and the child’s exchange partner will give a kidney to someone on the transplant waiting list.
Burkhart’s name had been on the same list for two years, while her blood was filtered by dialysis three days a week, before Buffington offered her a kidney.
Buffington said she felt awful watching her friend suffer through dialysis. But her heart especially ached for Burkhart’s daughter.
“I know what it is like to be the kid with a sick mom, and it’s not fun,” Buffington said.
Burkhart will get the Good Samaritan’s donor kidney tomorrow, a day after Buffington’s donation.
“This is going to change my life,” she said. “Not only will I have my life back, I will have my energy back to do things with my family.”
“It is a tremendous gift,” said Garrett.
The two friends will remain in the university hospital for five days after their surgeries. Recovery time is about a month. Buffington will return home to Twin Falls when she is released, but Burkhart will stay in Salt Lake City as she recovers.
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