Financial Assistance for Travel and Lodging
 
Transportation Assistance: For transplants to be performed in paired donor programs, one of two options must be followed: 1) either donors or recipients travel to the other hospital, or 2) kidneys are transported between hospitals. Currently, in the Paired Donation Network, kidneys may be transported between hospitals that are within 1-2 hours drive of each other, otherwise donors are required to travel to their matched recipient's hospital.  Some transplant programs may be able to assist with donor travel costs if the donor cannot afford these costs.
 
Lodging Assistance: Most transplant programs have very affordable housing for transplant patients and donors families that have to travel for the transplant.  Be sure to work with your social worker if you cannot afford the costs of lodging that may be incurred with a paired donation transplant.
 
A Success Story: The Vollmars and the Meyers
Daniel Vollmar (second from the left in the picture) wanted to donate to his mother, Josephine (on the left in the picture), but Josephine developed immunity to Daniel's tissues when she was pregnant with him. Rose Meyer (on the right in the picture)  wanted to donate to her husband, Paul, but her blood type (blood type A) was not compatible with Paul's blood type (blood type O).  The Meyers were entered into the PDC web-based computer matching program by their transplant coordinator at the Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, and the Vollmars were entered by their  transplant coordinator at the Medical University of Ohio.

After they were matched by the computer, and  crossmatching testing was performed to assure sure that Daniel's kidney was compatible with Paul and that Rose's kidney was compatible with Josephine.   After these tests were completed, they met each other (see CNN story "A Vital Trade" below. 

A few weeks later, in a paired donation procedure, Rose donated her kidney to Josephine, and Daniel donated to Paul. Josephine would have likely waited three years or more for a kidney on the deceased donor wait list. Paul never had to go on dialysis, where he would have also waited for three or more years.  All four are doing well today, and have become close friends because of the extraordinary experience they had in the paired donation procedure.

 
Original PDC 30 centers
Great Plains PDC 5 centers
New Jersey PDC 6 centers
SouthEast PDC 15 centers
SouthWest PDC 22 centers
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