Chair in a dialysis center. Each year, about one in 20 die while on the kidney transplant list. | va.gov/
Chair in a dialysis center. Each year, about one in 20 die while on the kidney transplant list. | va.gov/
A woman who donated one of her kidneys to a stranger after seeing a billboard next to a Wisconsin interstate is now urging others to do the same, a Milwaukee-area news outlet reported.
Laura Hutchings, a working mother of four, said it was curiosity that prompted her to respond to the billboard ad and that others can provide the same life-saving donation, according to a WISN 12 News story.
"Just find out more because you could be that life-changing, that life-saving person for someone else," Hutchings said in the news story.
The news story was published a few days into National Donate Life Month and about 93,000 people currently languish on the kidney donation waiting list, according to UNOS Transplant Living. Most on the kidney wait list wait about four years for their lifesaving organ donation, though the wait could be anywhere from four months to more than six years. Each year, one out of 20 die before they receive a a kidney match from the list.
Hutchings heeded the call after she saw a billboard during the 2020 Christmas season while driving along I-43. The billboard was seeking a kidney donor.
"It caught my attention," Hutchings said.
Hutchings said she wasn't immediately sure she could be a donor but that didn't stop her.
"Could I donate to someone that I don't even know, and I wasn't even aware of the need, but I was just curious enough to find out more," she said.
People on the waiting list need more people to find out more, Dr. Emily Joachim, a kidney specialist who practices at Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin, said in the news story.
"People are often waiting for four, five, six years just because the supply of kidneys does not meet the supply of people who currently need them," Joachim said, adding that almost almost anyone can donate a kidney but, like Hutchings, might have doubts.
"They probably (think they) don't have the same blood type, or 'I'm not related to them,' but really, in kidney transplant, those are not necessarily the most important things anymore," Joachim said.
Hutchings spent a summer in testing and was approved to donate prior to Oct. 27, 2021, when she underwent surgery for the actual donation.
Anyone who would like more information about becoming a living donor may visit the Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin website.
Alerts Sign-up