More than 100,000 people in the United States are on the organ donation waiting list, according to government statistics. In addition to kidneys, living donors can now donate parts of their lungs and liver.
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Chinnapong/iStockphoto/Getty Images
Renee Bruens, 33, of Clarksville, Tennessee, was a wife and mother of two young boys when a walk in a local parking lot changed her life.
“I walked past this car with a magnet on the driver's door and it said, 'O negative blood type, kidney donor needed, call this number,'” Bruens said. “And I thought, 'Actually, I have O-negative blood.'”
Bruens took a photo of the magnetic sign and continued with his day's work. She says she thought about it for a while until the next day. During a break at work, she started scrolling through photos on her phone and the photo appeared.
“When I tell someone at work, they say, 'You're crazy,'” Bruens says. “But I feel like if we go ahead and… do the first test and it's a match, it makes sense.”
Lenny Bruens
Bruen family
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Bruen family
Only about 300 to 400 Americans annually donate a kidney to a stranger. Abigail Marsh, a neuroscientist at Georgetown University who studies altruism, says this is an act of “extraordinary altruism.”
Blueens, after all, It was It matched perfectly with the man she saw in the car magnet. Then, after learning that a healthy person only needs one functioning kidney to thrive, she was sold. But what about her family? Not that much, she says.
“The craziest part of this whole thing was convincing everyone else to do it,” says Bruens, now 39. “I already knew this was what I wanted to do, but it's getting everyone else to buy in.”
Kidney donation usually requires laparoscopic surgery and is considered relatively low risk. Still, complications such as infections and blood clots can occur.
rare generosity
Marsh, a neuroscientist, says it takes an extraordinary level of generosity to donate an organ to a stranger.
“I define extraordinary altruism as altruism that is usually very risky, costly, and non-normative,” Marsh says. “This is something you very rarely see people grapple with.”
Marsh first began researching altruistic kidney donors in 2010. Her interest stemmed from previous research on psychopathy. Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by antisocial behavior such as callousness, lack of empathy, or inability to understand and feel the emotions of others.
“We know that psychopathy is a spectrum,” Marsh says. “And I started thinking…if you have someone who is very psychopathic on one side, what's the other side?”
Thus began a brain-imaging study of an extraordinary altruist. Marsh's discovered in early research Their right amygdala (the area of the brain that processes emotions) was larger than average, suggesting a greater capacity for empathy.
“We did it Other research “This shows that altruistic kidney donors are more empathetic to the pain of others. The patterns of brain activity seen when they are experiencing pain are similar to those seen when strangers are in pain. “It's very similar to the pattern when you're looking at it,'' she says.
And what sets them apart from most people is the feeling they have when they witness a stranger suffering. Extraordinary altruists care deeply about the well-being of others, including those who are not related to them.
“And the behavioral research we've done suggests that's because they're actually less selfish,” Marsh says.
The Gift of Life — Twice
And some people have taken their altruism a step further by becoming organ donors twice.
Tom O'Driscoll, 60, of Sugar Land, Texas, is one of the few Americans to have donated his organs to two different people.
“In 2010, I donated my left kidney to a stranger at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles,” he says.
Tom O'Driscoll
Tom O'Driscoll
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Tom O'Driscoll
And two years ago, O'Driscoll donated 60% of his liver. organs that regenerate restore itself to its original size and capacity—to save another person unknown to him.
liver donation surgery is more invasive than kidney surgery. Open surgery is required, and hospitalization for 5 to 7 days is required. Recovery can take up to eight weeks, which is about the time it takes for a donor liver to grow back.
Mr O'Driscoll said his reason for donating to two strangers was simple.
“The need is huge,” he says. “It's already over 100,000 Americans now Approximately 17 Americans die every day from organ shortages, with people on waiting lists for kidneys and livers. ”
O'Driscoll said his ability to donate a healthy organ gave important purpose to the years he spent trying to stay in top shape as a triathlete. And, as he's quick to tell anyone who asks, organ donation hasn't stopped him from competing.
“I did all 10 Ironman races on one kidney, and finished my 10th race nine months after liver donation surgery,” he says.
But best of all, O'Driscoll says, is the “quiet satisfaction of having saved another human life.”
“That's something I wouldn't give up for the world,” he says.
