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WELCOME!

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To those considering Liver Donation, you have come to the right page!  

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Whether you are interested in donating part of your liver, need more info, or just curious, I hope this website will be informative!  

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Donor's expenses will be paid for!  Please read below for more details:

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For those who are working, the organization, National Living Donors Assistance Center, may pay for your lost wages - as well as travel expenses & lodging, if needed.  This great non-profit organization, which has been around for many years, only recently has decided to reimburse potential organ donors for lost wages as well - in addition to their reimbursing the employed or unemployed -  for travel expenses, food & lodging for organ donors. For more information, you can contact the National Living Donors Assistance Center - LivingDonorAssistanceCenter.org. - or you may contact the living donor coordinator at any hospital that has a transplant division.  Note:  Sometimes this organization will not assist donors financially if the person they are donating to is in a higher income bracket. I have found though that most people who are in need of a transplant have had donors who were able to get financial assistance from this organization.  Click here  for more info from the National Living Donor Assistance Center or check out their website at LivingDonorAssistance.org.

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If you would like to be matched up with someone in need of a liver donor, or you would like to speak to someone who has donated a kidney (or liver) feel free to contact me! 

 

Gratefully,

 

Chaya Lipschutz

Kidney Donor, and  Kidney & Liver Matchmaker

Phone: (917) 627-8336. 

E-mail:  KidneyMitzvah@aol.com 

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DOUBLE Organ Donors 

(Liver & Kidney)

HONOR ROLL

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AMAZING STORY ABOUT DOUBLE ORGAN DONORS!

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"The Samaritans Who Donated Organs Twice"

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Click here to read this great story that was in the Wall Street Journal!

(Story includes someone who donated both his kidney & liver through me - Rabbi Ephraim Simon.)

Below is a partial list of some great people who have donated both a kidney & liver. And following that is a list of people who donated one organ - a liver.  ALL donated their organs to strangers!  This website is dedicated to them! 

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• Rabbi Efraim Simon, Teaneck, NJ - a DOUBLE organ donor, was 41 years old, father of 9, youngest child 2 years old, when he donated a kidney to a stranger  in 2009 & he was  50 years old when he donated part of his liver to a stranger as well in 2019.  He donated a kidney at NY Presbytarian Cornell & part of his liver at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.  Chaya Lipschutz a kidney donor and Kidney & Liver Matchmaker, who runs this website, made both his kidney & liver matches.  To read one of the many stories about his liver donation - this one from the website of the hospital he had donated part of his liver click on title:  "Rabbi Donates Second Organ To Stranger - Saves Dying Father Of Three."

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• Baila Teitelbaum of Brooklyn, NY, a mother of 5,  was 33 years old in 2007 when she donated a kidney to a stranger and  she was 47 years old in 2021 when she donated part of her liver to a stranger as well!   And her husband donated a kidney too!  Wow!  Chaya made just her kidney match.  I had matched her up with someone who needed liver as well - but in the end, her neighbor's cousin had a baby who needed a liver donor so she donated her liver instead to the baby.

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• Tom O'Driscoll, father of 1 from Sugar Land, Texas, first donated a kidney through me in 2010 after hearing me on "This American Life" on NPR. He donated a kidney at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles to a woman I had matched him up with. In 2022 he also donated part of his liver altruistically at USC-Keck in Los Angeles

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• Andrea Yochim , mother of 3 (stepmother of 4)  from  Los Angeles, CA, was 49 years old, when she first donated a kidney in 2018 at Methodist hospital in Houston & in 2019, 11 months after she donated a kidney, she donated 33% of her liver at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Wow!  She traveled far to donate to strangers!

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• Bonnie Serrao from California,  was 61 years old when she donated a kidney at Loma Linda hospital in 2018 & was 63 when she donated 70% of her liver at University of Southern California-Keck in 2020.

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• John Simpson, of Hornell (near Rochester), NY, was 52 years old when he donated 60% of his liver in May 2018 at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center  & was 53 years old when he donated part of his liver in November 2018 & was 53 years old when he donated a kidney at University of Rochester Medical Center.

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• Joe Gilvary, father of 3 from Vermont, was 58 years old when he donated a kidney in June 2018 at New York Presbytarian-Cornell & 13 months later, in July 2019, he donated part of his liver at the Cleveland Clinic!  To read one of theh stories written about him, click on the title of the story, "Two Time Living Organ Donor Donates Liver, Saves Baby's Life!"

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• Brandi Thornton, of Erie, Colorado - donated a kidney in 2017 had donated part of her liver, as well!

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• Harvey Kiernen of Connecticut, was 52 years old when he donated a kidney in 2007 at a Hartford hospital & then in 2010, 3 years after donating a kidney, he donated part of his liver at Yale hospital. He has since then become the Executive Director of the National Living Organ Donors Foundation, He also took up a from Connecticut to California to raise awareness and inspire others to become organ donors!  Wow!  Here is one of the stories that was written about him, click on title of story: "Multiple Organ Donor, Harry Kiernan, To Walk Across America To Raise Awareness"  - Huntington Post

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• Mark Weinman, father of 3 from  Hastings, Nebraska, was 49 years old when he donated a kidney in 2016  donating a kidney at Nebraska Medical Center, & was 53 when he  donated part of his liver in 2020 at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Click on this title to read his story, "Hastings Man Donates Organ To Stranger Across The Country"​​

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• Michael Speck of Sandusky, Ohio, first donated a kidney in at the age of 59,  in 2016 at University hospital in Cleveland and also donated 30% of his liver at age 64 at the University Of Southern California - Keck. You can read his story,  "Living Double Organ Donor Saves Two Lives And changes Many More".  You can also read his personal story:  "A Stranger’s Gift Leads to Milestone Liver Transplant"  He had lost 80 lbs to be able to first donate a kidney!  And didn't have any pain at all after his liver donation!​

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• Angela Zikovitch of Denver, Colorado, was 36 years old when she donated her kidney in December, 2017 at the UC Health University of Colorado medical center & in June, 2019, when she was 39 years old, she donated part of her liver at this same hospital!  And this hospital had 7 other kidney donors who donated a kidney at their hospital & liver as well, but elsewhere!  To read her story click on the title:  "Living Double Organ Donor Saves Two Lives And Changes Many More!"

• McKenzie Hull of Columbus Ohio, was 29 years old when she donated a kidney to a stranger at Ohio State Medical Center in August 2019.   She had started a kidney chain in which 3 people got a kidney! And then she donated 40% of her liver to a stranger in October 2020 at the Cleveland Clinic. 

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Hospitals that allow Kidney Donors to also Donate Part of their Liver:

1. USC - Keck - Los Angeles, CA - age limit:  60's

2. John Hopkins Medical Center - Baltimore, MD - age limit:  60

3. Mayo Clinic - Rochester, MN - age limit:  60

4. Cleveland Clinic - Cleveland, OH - age limit:  60

5. New York Presbytarian - Columbia & Cornell - age limit:  55

6. NYU Medical Center - age limit: 60

7. Montefiore Medical Center (NY) - age limit:  55

 

Note:  Those who have donated part of their liver first & looking to donate a kidney:  Most hosptails I believe will allow those who first donated part of their liver to donate a kidney as well.  So if one is looking to donate 2 organs, those who donate part of their liver first, will have an easier time being able to donate a kidney then someone who has first donated a kidney & looking to donate part of their liver.  As, most hospitals in the USA, will not allow a kidney donor to donate part of their liver, while many more hospitals in the USA will allow a liver donor to donate a kidney. 

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LIVER Donor 

HONOR ROLL

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• Eric Steger of Sunnyvale, CA - was 50 years old when he donated 60% of his liver in January 2020 .  Chaya Lipschutz, a kidney donor and Kidney & Liver Matchmaker, who runs this website, made his liver match. Eric not only donated liver, but has donated in the past bone marrow as well!  And he had donated blood platelets 140 times in 12 years! To read one of the numerous stories about his liver donation, the one titled,  "Eric's Finest Hour:  The Gift of Life" - click here.​

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• Yitzchok Pinkesz, father of 2, from Brooklyn, NY (now living in Washington State), in 2015, at the age of 25, donated 33% of his liver at NY Presbytarian-Columbia

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• David Weisberg, of Harrisburg, PA,  was 50 years old when he donated part of his liver in July, 2019.    David wrote a book about his liver donation, called "David's Chopped Liver."

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• Julie Daq, of Lafayette, Colorado, was 36 years old donated 65% of her liver in 2019 at New York Presbytarian - Cornell.

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Stories on Liver Donors

(click on each title to read the article)

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• "Sugar Land (Texas) Kidney & Liver Donor Climbs Mount Kilimanjaro to Raise Awarness for Organ Donation"- Houston Chronicle - April 4, 2023

• A Truly Inspirational Story of Tom O'Driscoll: The Man Who Has Donated His Organs to Two Strangers" - Michael Berry Show - March 21, 2023

• The Samaritans Who Donated Organs Twice" - Wall Street Journal

• Rare Kindness:  Kidney Donor Rabbi Donates His Liver" - Chabad.org

• "Compassion In Action, Across The Miles" NY Presbytarian-Columbia Medical Center - NY

• "Blood & Organ Donor Saving The Lives Of Strangers" - CBS-TV Evening News - National

• "Organ Donor Walks Acorss The Country To Promote His Cause" - Yale School of Medicine- CT

• "Living Double Organ Donor Saves Two Lives And Changes Many More" - UCH Health - CO

• "Hasings Man Donates Organ To Stranger Across The Country"  NBC TV News, NE

• "Organ Donor Gives The Gift Of Life - Twice" - WCAX (CBS-TV News)  - VT

• "Rabbi Efraim Simon: One Of The Country's First 'Dual Donors"  - Apple Podcast - August 2, 2021.  To listen to this podcast, click here  (I was interviewed as well.)

• "19-year-old Woman Meets 22-year-old Stranger Who Donated His Liver to Her" - Yahoo News

• "Utah Doctor Donates Part of Her Liver to Save a Stranger’s Life" - KSL-TV - UT

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Information on Liver Donation

(click on each title to view article)

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• "10 Things You should Know About Living Liver Donation" - University of Utah

• "Becoming A Living Liver Donor - Evaluation, Risks & Recovery" - Mayo Clinic

• "Living-Donor Liver Transplant" - Mayo Clinic

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Liver Donation Requirements  (This info is from Beth Israel-Lahey Health hospital website)

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Living donation is a voluntary process. Donors must have a compatible blood type and liver anatomy that is suitable for donation. Potential liver donors must not have any serious medical conditions, such as liver disease, diabetes, heart disease or cancer.

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To become a live liver donor, you must:

• Be a willing adult between age 18 and 60's (Note: some hospitals vary on minimum & maximum age)

• Be prepared to commit to the pre-donation evaluation process, surgery and recovery

• Be in good health and psychological condition

• Have healthy liver and kidney function

• Be a healthy weight (BMI less than 32)  (Note: some hospitals may differ on BMI numbers)

• Be willing to abstain from alcohol until fully recovered

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You cannot be a liver donor if you:

• Are under age 18 

• Suffer from heart disease or lung disease

• Have HIV or hepatitis

• Are an active substance abuser

• Have an uncontrolled psychiatric illness

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Live Donor Liver Transplant Evaluation

As part of the live donor evaluation process, you will meet with all members of our live donor team. In addition, several tests are required to determine if you are fit for major surgery and if your liver is suitable for live donation. Completing the entire donor evaluation may take up to two weeks.

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The tests for a potential liver donor include:

• Blood tests

• Chest X-ray

• CT scan

• Electrocardiogram (EKG)

• Physical exam

• Tissue matching

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What to Expect After Live Donor Liver Transplantation

Your hospital stay may last from four to seven days, depending on the speed of your recovery from surgery. You are discharged after your surgery when you are capable of urinating, walking and eating on your own. You won’t be allowed to drive yourself home, so we require that you arrange for a friend or family member to take you home when the time comes.

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Keep in mind that you will need to visit the hospital about a week after your discharge and again about two to three weeks later. If you live far away, we can make arrangements to accommodate you at a nearby hotel.

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Here is what you can generally expect during your recovery:

• In two to three weeks: Your liver function normalizes. You are allowed to drive again when you regain your physical strength and stop taking pain medications.

• In six to 12 weeks: Your activity level increases, and you may wish to return to work or school. Some people heal more quickly than others, so this time can vary from donor to donor.

• In two to three months: Your liver volume will have regenerated to at least 80% of its original size. Most patients report feeling “completely normal,” and nearly all donors are back to work or school.

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If you are a woman who is planning to become pregnant, we recommend you wait six months before conceiving to allow your body to recover from the donation.

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Questions & Answers on Liver Donation:  

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1. "Do I need to be in perfect health to donate part of my liver?"   This may not be necessarily so.  It depends on one's health issue.  One for example may be able to donate part of their liver if they have high blood pressure & controlled with one blood pressure medication - if they are above the age of 50.  I know of one person who was able to donate part of his liver despite having high blood pressure & being on medication!

2.  "If I already donated a kidney can I donate part of my liver? Or if I already donated part of my liver can I donate a kidney?"   Yes you may be able to - depending on the hospital.  Check with your local transplant hospital - or the hospital where you might know of someoene in need of an organ.

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