Four People Meet After They Swap Kidneys

Kidney recipient Kim Yarbrough, left, and donor Tricia Meyer meet for the first time in Detroit on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015. The two were part of a historic kidney donation chain that links patients from University of Michigan, Beaumont Hospital and Henry Ford Health System. A husband who wanted to donate to his wife at Beaumont Hospital, a friend who wanted to donate to her buddy at the University of Michigan and a daughter who wanted to donate to her mother at Henry Ford Hospital but weren’t a match swapped kidneys instead. (David Coates/The Detroit News via AP)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Four people have met for the first time since a pair of kidney swaps at a Connecticut hospital.

The Hartford Courant reports (http://cour.at/1QJcXdv ) the family of 3-year-old Jeremy Orellana, as well as Fred Ferris, Beth Mix, and Julissa Canales, had an emotional meeting for the first time on Wednesday following the Nov. 10 surgeries.

Orellana, of Bridgeport, and Ferris, of Newtown, were both diagnosed with kidney disease and had been undergoing dialysis.

Canales, of West Haven, decided to help her friend Ferris. The two were incompatible for the transplant, though, so they entered into Yale-New Haven Hospital’s kidney-pairing program. Ferris received Mix’s kidney, while Canales donated hers to Orellana.

Mix volunteered to become an altruistic organ donor, meaning she donated without knowing any of the participants.

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Information from: Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com

 

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