By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed June 9, 2015
Beth Galvin, the long-time Fox 5 medical reporter, today is donating a kidney to an anonymous recipient in Los Angeles, inspired by a Chamblee police captain's similar journey that she covered for the TV station.
I will be the beginning of a kidney transplant chain that will stretch across the country. I do not know who will receive my kidney, except that it is someone in LA who needs it.
UPDATE: Thursday, June 11, 2015. I haven't been able to reach Galvin for comedy post-surgery but she did post this on Facebook:
Thank you to the surgeons and doctors and nurses (especially the nurses) at Emory Healthcare for taking such great care of me. It's been an emotional, beautiful journey. I've heard that the recipient of my kidney, a California father of two young children, is doing really well. After two years of dialysis, he can get back to living his life. That makes everything I did absolutely worth it. Please keep him in your thoughts as he heals from his surgery. I hope my kidney works like gangbusters for him.
Galvin, who has been at WAGA-TV since 1996, had the surgery on Tuesday, June 9:
Here is the story that made her join in:
As the story noted, Emory University since 2010 has been part of a Paired Donor Kidney Exchange Program. Often, people want to donate a kidney to a friend or loved one but it's not compatible. By using a national database, they can find those who have the right kidney and do a "chain" exchange. In paired donation, a donor and recipient are matched with another incompatible donor and recipient pair, and the kidneys are exchanged between the pairs.
Galvin is part of a chain of involving six people.
Mike Beller, the Chamblee police captain in the story above who donated his kidney in 2013, said today that he is happy to see Galvin create a new kidney chain.
"I'm very proud of her," Beller said. "I'm happy for the people whose lives are going to change by her donation."
People often have to wait years for a new kidney while suffering from the harsh reality of dialysis treatment. Many die long before a kidney comes along. The waiting list can exceed 100,000 people.
According to Wired magazine, "today, about a third of the 16,000 annual kidney transplants come from living donors, a number that keeps rising through paired procedures."
Beller said the recovery time isn't too bad. He was back at work within two weeks. "I have a desk job," he said. "It would have been longer if I had to run around chasing bad guys. I'd call it a temporary setback. You go on with life as before. Sometimes, I even forget I ever did it. At the same time, there's a feeling of accomplishment thinking about the people in the chain whose lives have been positively changed in a very long-term way."
He said he doesn't know who has his kidney but the recipient did send an anonymous thank you note to him a few weeks after the surgery.
"Someone inspired me to do this," Fuller said. "I hope Beth can inspire others."
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