Who can you donate to during your lifetime?
If you donate an organ during your lifetime, you can choose who receives it. Who can you donate to during your lifetime? 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 to their partner, child, or another family member during their lifetime. 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 this is possible. Your organ must match the recipient's. Two things are important:
- The blood types of the donor and the recipient. These blood types must be compatible. If they are not, the transplantation 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 will then not function properly. Does the recipient have antibodies against the donor's organ? If so, the donor cannot donate the kidney or part of the liver to the recipient.
Does the investigation show that the donor and recipient are not a good match? Then the donation cannot proceed. Together with the transplant team, other options will be explored.
Donating to a stranger
Some people donate a kidney or part of their liver because they want to make a difference 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 plea on social media or 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 the donor and recipient to be in contact with each other. Also, the donor must not receive any money for the donation. Furthermore, the same rules that apply to living donation apply here.
Iris donated a kidney to a stranger
A plea on Facebook led Iris to donate a kidney during her lifetime. 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 unwell in the grand scheme of a whole human life?'
Read Iris' story
Cross-over kidney donation
Donors who wish to donate a kidney can also participate in the cross-over program. For example, this is possible 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) exchange 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 their blood types don't match either.
- Your kidney is a match for that brother, and the kidney from that other donor is a match for your partner.
- In that case, cross-over donation can still help both patients.