One time wasn’t enough.
Stephanie Kroot felt strongly about organ donation. When the opportunity to be a living donor and provide a kidney to a New York woman who was desperately in need of a transplant, she did not hesitate.
Then, she wanted to do it again — this time offering her liver.
“The minute I decided to donate, I stopped thinking of them as mine, and started thinking of them as someone else’s,” she said. “Since both the kidney and the liver were on the right side, I started calling them ‘righties.’ And both righties are doing great.”
Kroot is a two-time living organ donor, one of only about 50 people in the United States to have donated more than one organ. She donated her right kidney in 2019, and part of her liver in February. Both of the transplants were successful. The 47-year-old Center Grove resident is recovering well, and her donations have given new life to two other people.
To drive home the importance of organ donation, Kroot is sharing her story. She hopes her experience will help others consider donating, particularly in being a living donor.
“Organ donors just feel the need to help others, that need to share, to give. For me, I feel like I have so much,” she said. “If someone can, and it works with their life, they could maybe consider it. Or if not, make themselves a donor on their card.”
According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 117,000 people are registered for the organ transplant waiting list. The kidney transplant list includes 98,146 people, while 12,075 are waiting on a liver.
Organ donations from people who have died can’t make up the shortfall to help all of those people, said Dr. Chandrashekhar Kubal, surgical director of the IU Health adult liver transplant program.
For example, nationwide, about 8,000 people receive a liver from a deceased donor.
“That’s not going to be enough any time soon,” Kubal said. “There is always going to be a gap between demand and supply. So there are going to be some people waiting for a liver transplant who will either get too sick to be transplanted or die from some complications. Living donation helps some people come off that list, so they don’t have to wait any more.”
Kroot was aware of the massive backlog of people waiting on a life-saving transplant. What ultimately convinced her to be a living donor in the first place was something she saw on TV.
Organ donation had been something Kroot had considered for much of her life. When she was 20 years old, her sister developed kidney stones. Kroot offered her one of her kidneys if she ever needed one, but she never did.
A few years later, her mother needed a bone marrow transplant. Again, Kroot thought about what it would mean to be a donor, though she ultimately decided that donating at that point in her life wasn’t feasible.
But while watching television in 2019, the issue resurfaced. The particular episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” she was watching revolved around a “six-way domino” kidney transplant, in which 12 people are involved in a massive donor swap.
“I thought, there is nothing stopping me now. I should do this now,” she said.
Kroot went online to research, digging into medical publications and donor organizations to ensure her expectations matched the reality of living donation. Her feelings didn’t change, and in January 2019, she registered to be a kidney donor.
In order to be a donor, she had to have a myriad of tests, including blood work, chest x-rays and CT scans. Multiple sessions and discussions with doctors determined whether she was mentally prepared for donation.
“They go through a total evaluation — not just medical, but psychological and social. We want to make sure in every way they’re OK to do this,” Kubal said.
Months went by before Kroot learned she had matched with a recipient in need. Through her congregation, she learned of the woman in New York who needed a kidney transplant.
On Sept. 11, 2019, she had surgery to remove her right kidney at IU Health Physicians Transplant in Indianapolis. The surgery was a success, for both Kroot and the recipient.
“It is absolutely living happily in its new home,” she said.
Initially, Kroot had inquired about donating her kidney and part of her liver at the same time. She could multiply her ability to help, without having to go through two different surgeries.
Her doctor said it was not possible. So when she returned to her surgeon for a follow-up four weeks after the kidney donation, she asked again about preparing to be a liver donor. He said she couldn’t. Still, Kroot pressed — asking if there was any way that liver donation would still be possible.
“He said, grudgingly, that I could do it at one year,” she said. “But he also told me later at that time, though IU Health did not currently have a liver donation program, it was going to have one.”
IU Health established its liver transplant program in early 2020, reviving a program that had ceased in the early 2000s. The first successful transplant was conducted in July.
One year after her kidney donation, Kroot continued her attempt to be a liver donor. She learned that IU Health’s program was up and running, while also looking at other hospitals specializing in the procedure, including University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pennsylvania.
“IU Health’s was so new, and I considered whether I wanted to do it at a brand new program,” she said. “Ultimately, my decision came down to a few things. One, I liked the idea of helping a new program get off its feet. Two, they already had all of my information from my previous donation. Three, I absolutely love and respect the programs they have at IU Health.”
Once again, Kroot had to go through the process to ensure she was healthy enough to donate. Scans were taken to show that her organs were in the proper places in her body, and that arteries and veins were providing proper blood supply. She also had to get a CT scan with contrast, which would show that her remaining kidney was healthy enough to withstand the donation.
Everything checked out, and Kroot was cleared.
“The risk is a little bit elevated because they had the previous operation. But having that operation in 2019 — and this was more than a year afterwards — we looked at her and she was in great health,” Kubal said.
Kroot waited to be matched with a recipient, and in February, she had surgery to remove a portion of her liver. That portion was transplanted into an Indiana woman whom Kroot did not know.
The surgery went smoothly. Kroot had some scarring from the kidney surgery. But otherwise, the operation went as easily as it could have, Kubal said.
She took leave from her job as a registered nurse at Johnson Memorial Hospital, and in the weeks that followed, she focused on recovery. The pain and difficulty sleeping was moderate, though not as bad as it was following her kidney operation.
Within a few days, she could walk comfortably. At nearly 10 weeks, she was able to walk 17,000 steps in a day.
“Stephanie handled everything very well. She handled the pain of surgery so well that she was able to leave the hospital fairly soon. So far, she’s been the shortest period of stay in the hospital that we’ve had,” Kubal said.
Kroot’s experience led her to become an advocate for organ donation, both as a living donor and donating after death. Though she emphasizes that anyone considering it should not feel pressured into donating, she hopes that anyone who is able to will look into it.
“Do research with a couple of different programs, find the one that meets your needs and then make the call,” she said.
Even after two times, Kroot may not be done, either.
“I’m still hoping to do more. I registered a few years ago to be a bone marrow donor as well. I still haven’t gotten that call, and honestly, most people don’t. But if I have the chance, I will,” she said.
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Organ donation
What kinds of organ donation is there?
Living donation: Kidney and liver patients who are able to receive a living donor transplant can receive an organ much sooner, often in less than a year.
Deceased donation: Deceased organ, tissue and eye donation is the process of giving an organ (or part of an organ), tissue or eye at the time of the donor’s death, for the purpose of transplantation to another person. Deceased donors can provide kidneys, liver, heart and valves, lungs, pancreas, intestines, bones, veins, corneas, islet cells and tendons.
Vascularized Composite Allografts: These procedures involve the transplantation of multiple structures that may include skin, bone, muscles, blood vessels, nerves and connective tissue. The most commonly known type of these are for hand and face transplants.
Who can be an organ donor? Anyone. There are no age or race restrictions for donation, and regardless of medical history, you can sign up to be a donor.
To register to be an organ donor, go to donatelifeindiana.org/donor-registration and fill out the required form. People also can register to be a donor at any Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles location.
To inquire about living donation, go to iuhealth.org/find-medical-services/living-kidney-donation or iuhealth.org/find-medical-services/living-organ-donation
Source: Donate Life Indiana
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