Lourdes Holds Living Kidney Donor Education Event

The Lourdes Center for Organ Transplantation recently held a living kidney donor education event at its Cherry Hill location. Speakers included Janine Vallen, APN-C, Lourdes’ Transplant Nephrology Nurse Practitioner and Living Donor Coordinator; Marielle Van Thuyne, program manager at the National Kidney Foundation, Delaware Valley Chapter; and Jason Nothdurft, a living kidney donor who shared his personal story.

Speakers discussed the many benefits of becoming a living kidney organ donor, including:

• You can save someone’s life
• You can drastically improve the quality of life for the donor recipient
• You can eliminate the recipient’s need to be on the organ donor wait list; shortening the wait for others
• You can help a recipient possibly live longer since organs from living donors last substantially longer than those from deceased donors
• You can experience what it’s like to give the gift of life and see the impact you’ve made on someone’s life and their loved ones

More than 120,000 people in the United States are currently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, including 4,000 in New Jersey.

Lourdes celebrates transplant patients who received a second chance at life and honors those donors who make transplants possible. Every time a transplant is performed at Lourdes, the Blessed Mother statue atop of the hospital is lit green in honor of the donor and recipient.

Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center is the only provider of solid organ transplants in South Jersey and encourages everyone to register as an organ and tissue donor. Call the Lourdes Regional Organ Transplant Center at 856-796-9370 for more information.

Pictured: In 2014, Jason Nothdurft (left) donated his kidney to family friend William Rode. Northdurft has since focused his time and energy into educating and advocating for living organ donation. He is a member of The National Kidney Foundation’s Advocacy Committee, and is actively involved in local organ donor programs.