A central Ohio pediatric nurse will donate her kidney later this month, kicking off a living donor chain that will help four people receive life-saving transplants.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A central Ohio pediatric nurse is preparing for a major surgery later this month — not to save one life, but to help save four.
Madi Weldon, 26, will donate her kidney on Feb. 27 at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Her donation will begin a living kidney “chain,” a coordinated series of transplants that will call on three other donors to ultimately help four people receive life-saving kidneys.
Weldon said the decision grew out of her work caring for children who are waiting for organ transplants.
“Taking care of patients waiting for organs and just seeing the struggle of the frequent admissions and having to go to dialysis — they can’t eat what they want — that’s when I kind of felt more drawn to living donation,” Weldon said.
“What really put me over the top was my sister’s friend actually needed a double lung transplant. So when I learned about that, I was like, ‘Okay, it’s time to fill out this form,’” Weldon said.
She began researching living donation about a year and a half ago and eventually signed up as a non-directed donor — meaning she chose to donate to someone she doesn’t know.
“You can donate a kidney, you can donate a lobe of your liver,” Weldon said. “It’s a change and a sacrifice, but you can go on living without them.”
As a non-directed donor, Weldon became eligible to start a kidney chain.
In these chains, one donor’s kidney goes to a recipient whose loved one may not be a match. That loved one can then donate to another patient, and the process continues — allowing multiple transplants to happen that otherwise might not have been possible.
“The non-directed donor can be the missing link in the chain,” Weldon said. “And can kick off this series of people getting the kidneys that they need.”
In Weldon’s case, three additional donors and four recipients will all undergo surgery on the same day.
When she learned the surgery date, the reality set in.
“When they told me Feb. 27, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s real,’” she said.
Despite some nerves, Weldon says she’s focused on the impact — knowing four people have already received the call they’ve been waiting for.
“There’s four people that now have received this call, like, ‘Hey, you’re going to get the kidney that you’ve been waiting for,’” she said.
Her family says the decision reflects who Weldon has always been.
“She’s our Switzerland in the house — the one who makes the peace,” said her sister, Cameron Weldon. “It makes perfect sense to me that it’s her.”
Cameron said watching her sister donate to strangers has been inspiring.
“Just sacrificial love to strangers is a really beautiful gift,” she said.
Weldon said she is excited, nervous, but above all, grateful for the opportunity.
“I took care of this girl that got a kidney transplant a couple weeks ago, and her grandpa was commenting that her color was better and she felt more energy, and she was able to eat what she wanted,” Weldon recalled. “I was like, ‘This is going to be cool that in a few weeks, I’m going to be able to help do this for someone.'”
The need for organ donors remains urgent.
“Currently in the United States, 100,000 individuals are waiting for a life-saving transplant. Out of those, 85% are waiting for a kidney transplant, and so the need is real,” Andrew Mullins, CEO of Lifeline of Ohio, told 10TV. “We are very thankful for the opportunity, outside of deceased donation, for individuals that are being very generous with living kidney donation through their local transplant center.”
Mullins says anyone interested in organ donation can register by saying “yes” at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, signing up at lifelineofohio.org or by contacting a local transplant center, like Ohio State or Nationwide Children’s Hospital, to explore living donation.
Ohio State’s transplant program, which Weldon is participating in, is one of the largest in the country.
Since the program began in 1967, Ohio State has performed more than 13,800 organ transplants — nearly 9,000 of those kidney transplants, from both living and deceased donors, according to a spokesperson at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
For Weldon, the eight-week recovery time feels small compared to what recipients gain.
“That’s a pretty short time for someone to get years out of this organ and to kind of get their life back,” she said. “They’re not my family member — but this is somebody’s family member.”
She hopes her story encourages others to consider becoming donors, in whatever way they can.
“I would just encourage people to look into it,” Weldon said. “It can make a huge difference in someone’s life. Give these people their lives back, let them be kids again or parents again, and not have to worry about going to the hospital.”
