ORGAN DONOR Needed

Organ donor requirements
Before moving ahead with becoming a kidney donor, you must meet certain basic kidney donation requirements. In general, a kidney donor must:

Be 18 years of age or older
Be in good physical and mental health
Have normal kidney function

If you want to become a kidney donor, you will undergo medical and psychological tests to make sure you’re healthy enough to donate a kidney. You will also go through a series of medical tests at the transplant center to see if you’re a match for the transplant recipient and if you’re ready for surgery. Before kidney donation you'll have:

Blood tests
Tissue typing tests
Antibody tests
Pre–surgery health screening

Both the donor’s and the potential recipient’s health are considered when screening kidney donors. There are certain medical conditions that can keep you from becoming a kidney donor, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, HIV, hepatitis, or severe infection. Whether or not the potential donor is a smoker may also be taken into consideration.

Every nine minutes, a new person joins the national waiting list for an organ transplant. “There are diseases with no cure that are only helped by transplants,” says Transplant Center Enterprise Director Charles Miller, MD. Here’s what you should know about organ donation: