Organ Donation: Too Obese To Donate?

October 25, 2012

Organ Donation: Too Obese To Donate? 66 year-old Christine Hall wanted to make a difference in someone's life.  She had never had any real time to volunteer as she wanted to and had never been in a financial position to write a check.   One evening, she saw a story on NBC Nightly News in the summer of 2009 about the 7-way paired kidney exchange performed by Georgetown and Washington Hospital Center. “I saw it and I thought, ‘wow, why don't more people do that?’"  It occurred to her that she could do something extraordinary:  She would donate one of her kidneys to help a complete stranger in need.  This was something that she could easily do.

Or so she thought...

Doctors told Hall that at 200 pounds, she was too fat to be a donor.  She would soon learn that although thousands of Americans were waiting for a life saving kidney donation, obesity was playing a major role in affecting millions of Americans as potential organ donors.

"It's really a national epidemic," says Dr. Matthew Cooper, director of kidney transplantation at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital.  "One of the things that we have learned is that obesity in organ donors is quite dangerous." Dr. Cooper is being forced to turn more and more people away because of their weight.  People who are overweight or obese have higher risks for chronic illnesses that can also lead to kidney disease and having just one kidney could prove to be fatal.

"If we're in fact making dangerous decisions or not using our best judgments and end up creating the next group of folks who are going to need kidney transplants then we're really not serving the population," says Dr. Cooper. Although there is no national weight limit for potential donors, some hospitals require donors to have a body mass index under 35.

Christine Hall decided that her weight was not going to keep her from helping another human being live a healthier life, let alone live at all.  She worked hard with the doctors and nutritionists at Georgetown and lost 40 pounds in six months.  She was very motivated after learning she was a match for a 59 year-old man (William (Wyatt) Miller) in need of a kidney and she was on a mission.

William (Wyatt) Miller (Christine Hall's Kidney Recipient)

"I was eating for two, so every time I was tempted to eat something I shouldn't, I thought about him."  says Hall.  She went on to donate one of her kidneys to Miller and lost another 45 pounds after the surgery. "I owe him as much as he owes me, because he gave me the motivation to do something I've been wanting to do for years," says Hall. "In a way, I feel like I got more than I gave, because he gave me the gift of good health."

Doctors at Georgetown and other hospitals are working with potential donors to help them lose weight. But only after careful screening and a commitment from the donor to change their lifestyle post-donation.

For more about organ donation click here.

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