Arizona's First 'Anonymous' Kidney Donation at UMC Tuesday

On Tuesday, Dr. Spence will get his wish. One of his perfectly healthy kidneys will be removed surgically and transplanted into a total stranger - a 35-year-old Tucson man who has been waiting for a kidney for more than three years. The transplant recipient does not wish to be identified.

This is the first "anonymous," or "non-directed," kidney donation and transplant in Arizona, said Sam James, MD, medical director of the UMC Kidney Transplant Program.

In most living donations, the donated kidney comes from a relative, friend, fellow-churchgoer or even an acquaintance who "directs" the donation to a specific patient.

Dr. Spence's donation is unique in that he had no preference who received his life-saving gift. The UMC Kidney Transplant Team selected the recipient because he was the patient on the UMC wait list with the closest blood and tissue match to Dr. Spence. The two men never have met or spoken.

"I've been blessed with good health," Dr. Spence said. "As a doctor I've seen so many people suffer on dialysis for years, waiting for a kidney. Sometimes that kidney didn't come in time. My main motivation is to get one person off the wait list." He said his seven children and fiance are "respectful" of his decision.

Dr. Spence said the immediate inspiration for his donation was a chance meeting with a kidney donor.

"About four months ago a man pulled up in front of the Flagstaff post office on a bicycle pulling a trailer. I was in the market for a bicycle-trailer so I stopped to chat. His name was Scott Wakefield and he was riding across America three months after his own altruistic kidney donation. It got me thinking about it," he said.

He called transplant centers in Phoenix but they had no protocols for anonymous donations. UMC recently established a non-directed donation program and invited him down to Tucson for a thorough psychological and medical examination.

"I know what I'm getting into," he said. "It's major surgery, there's no getting around that. But as a physician I have a comfort level knowing how the body responds and adjusts."

On Tuesday, UMC surgeon Sanjay Ramakumar, MD, will remove Dr. Spence's left kidney through a 3-inch incision in his abdomen. This laparoscopic technique is considered far less traumatic to the donor than the traditional surgery previously required. In laparoscopic kidney donation, the donor typically is hospitalized two to three days. Dr. Spence hopes to return to his part-time pediatric practice in a couple weeks.

In a nearby operating room, UMC kidney transplant surgeon John Hughes, MD, immediately will transplant Dr. Spence's kidney into the recipient. Transplant patients typically are hospitalized for four days after their surgery. If successful, the transplant will end the recipient's reliance on thrice-weekly dialysis.

UMC currently has a kidney transplant wait list of 227 people. Last year the program performed 25 transplants with deceased donor kidneys and 18 transplants with kidneys from living donors.

"One of my purposes in doing this donation and talking about it is to see if other people might consider it. If 1,000 people learn about this, perhaps 10 might consider becoming a kidney donor, and two might actually donate," Dr. Spence said.

Anyone interested in information about donating a kidney may call the Kidney Transplant Office at (520) 694-7365.