Show Advances in Americans drugs and anti-rejecti- on to become living organ donors than ever before Still there is a great need to give V n surgery are allowing more less-invasi- ve ' ' W S “ v r ' f- 7 GENtypr - tr BELAY'S NAME SAT ON A prayer answered a Aft years or bm MpvaHn on k Miyiii mnimibi wurioi Belay 47 ooyo Wm "prayed for a mirocta" Last ' v December aha rsoslvoe a kidney donated by Harold Mntz4Si "It's something anyone eon do" ha oayfc mows oi rawoFfi moy mi too mo tor Tono u the kidney-transpla- nt waiting list if it were nailed then For mote than a dec- ade this accountant and mother from Springfield Va endured dialysis three times a week and prayed for a miracle i That miracle cam? last Dec 12 The kidney Belay received wasn’t taken from a cadaver or a family member Rather it came from a man she had never even seen or met— a stranger who lived less than 20 minutes away: “It's still hard for me to believe that someone would do something like this— give a part of himself to a person he did not know" says Belay now 47 whose kidney problems began mote than 20 yean ago “I did it because I could" 'ly 4 d n Saved by the Internet ai wm attmif to to won Americatir xv v no hero bVsomething anyone can do" life with a stranger v With the advent of better tion drugs and surgical mfediods of organ removal nearly half rifdl donors triday are liying And to the Unites Network for anti-reje- c- Spring -- find initoIMkhlMy mod ho1 fomWy rntmtamt enrol Kook SB plooed oploo on tliointomotfooooiniono who would bo k& AMAil Aa mA poopvo romonooo oo oo moon AAw mocoo no An wink BSsu mon mm Idoko her hnobond Am 1 fool oo (I) and 40 Induing Wendy hioky"oeyo Carol dboiit the kidney the reootvad from Wendy : More than 76000 less-invssi- ve Mk Arr1 ' came from Hanonymous"living donors according to the Coalition on Donation' Butlast year 21 donors gaVea"giftof life'tpsomeonedidn'tkikwniis Organ Sharing the number of living 1'?Jnvd£ transplants between people dramaticinotsse says Boh Spielden-Shari' kidney donors not genetically reined to ’ who don't know each other is still some-- ncrjrfthecqolition cap be attributed to tfae organ recipients increased 8PW thing greater awarenessof the procedure is veiy new" sAyi CindySpeas nationwide in ttelast decade from OT the Washington Regional Transplant : well as tomore hospitals being willing to' 706 Most of these donors were ? Consortium (WRTC) ini ftUs Chuidi"7operfonri the '"The imnvroosuppressivedrugs were spouses or close friends of the recipe Va which arranged die exchuge he- -' ents but a small number were stringers tweenlixitz and 6elayIn1999 only the big breakthrough" saysDr Francis ng - ofa operittiori7777 : |