To whom can you donate while alive?
If you donate an organ while alive, you can choose who receives the organ yourself. To whom can you donate while alive? You can read about it on this page.
People often give a kidney or part of their liver to someone they know, such as a family member, partner, or close friend. But sometimes people also choose to donate to a stranger.
Donating a kidney or part of your liver to someone you know
It is common for people to donate during their lifetime to their partner, child, or another family member. Or to someone else they know. They do this because that person's kidney or liver is not working properly. With their kidney or part of their liver, they can then help this person.
If someone wants to donate a kidney or part of their liver to someone they know, the hospital first investigates whether it is possible. Your organ must be a match for the recipient. Two things are important:
- The blood types of the donor and the recipient. These blood types must be compatible. If they are not, the transplant will not succeed.
- The antibodies in the recipient's body. These are substances that can cause the body to reject the donor's organ. The kidney or part of the liver would then not be able to function properly. Does the recipient have antibodies against the donor's organ? Then the donor cannot donate the kidney or part of the liver to the recipient.
Does the examination show that the donor and the recipient are not a good match? Then the donation cannot proceed. Together with the transplant team, other options are looked into.
Donating to a stranger
Some people donate a kidney or part of their liver because they want to do something for someone. It does not matter who the recipient is. We call this an altruistic donor. The donor registers with one of the transplant hospitals in the Netherlands. As an anonymous donor, you can also participate in the cross-over program. You can read what that is at the bottom of this page.
Sometimes people see a call on social media or on TV and decide to donate a kidney or part of their liver because of it. This is called directed altruistic donation. If the donor has a specific recipient in mind, but does not know that person (well), there are special requirements. The hospital then requires that the donor and the recipient are in contact with each other. Also, the donor may not receive money for the donation. Furthermore, the same rules apply here as for living donation.
Iris donated a kidney to a stranger
A post on Facebook led Iris to donate a kidney while alive. To someone she didn't know at all before. 'Looking back, I would do it again in a heartbeat. What is a few weeks of feeling under the weather compared to a whole human life?'
Read Iris' story
Cross-over kidney donation
Donors who want to donate a kidney can also participate in the cross-over program. This is possible, for example, if you want to give a kidney to someone you know, but the kidney is not a match for that recipient. In cross-over donation, two or more pairs (a donor and a recipient) swap donors.
An example:
- You want to give a kidney to your partner, but your blood types do not match.
- Another donor wants to give a kidney to his brother, but the blood types do not match there either.
- Your kidney is a match for that brother, and the kidney from the other donor is a match for your partner.
- In that case, both patients can still be helped through cross-over donation.