Amelia Rivera is a three-year-old girl who desperately needs a kidney to survive.  However, unlike most patients, she was denied even the chance to try and find a matching kidney. Finding a donor is not an easy job. There are always more patients waiting for a kidney than there are willing and able donors. But there is hope. After a few tests needed to find a match are done, a kidney patient is placed on a waiting list. The wait can be long and it depends or urgency, age, and other medical problems. If a willing stranger happens to match that patient, a donation is possible. If the stranger happens to also match another patient who is in more urgent need of a transplant, or higher on the list, the patient must wait for a different donor. Kidneys can also come from deceased donors.  Even while on the list the patient is encouraged to try and find a donor on his own as this can sometimes shorten the wait time.  

Many patients in need of a kidney never actually find a donor even though they are on a list. However, they still have the security that, while on the list, there are people out there who are trying to help them find a match. Amelia Rivera and her family are on their own in this battle.

The world’s first synthetic Windpipewas transplanted successfully in a human body in the Karolinska University Hospital in the Stockholm suburb of Huddinge, a hospital in Sweden. This transplant was carried out by an International team of surgeons. Their patient was a 36 year old man who was suffering from late stage tracheal cancer. For him to live a regular life again he needed to have a trachea transplant, or better known as a windpipe transplant.

The synthetic trachea was covered in with the man’s stem cells, and then was transplanted into his body. This procedure will be a revolution in the field of trachea transplants. It would eliminate the need of a donor. The patient would then not need to wait for a donor and just have a trachea synthetically made, then covered in their stem cells so the body can accept as its own.  This procedure will be extremely beneficial to patients who are children. It is much more difficult to find a trachea donor for children. So this would make it possible for all children regardless of age to find a donor much faster. Now that the procedure can be done sooner without the wait for a donor, the patient can have the surgery done sooner and can have more time to recover sooner.

Kidney donation is a huge topic for many, especially those in need of the organ.

While it is vital to have kidneys, a person can usually live a healthy life with just one. So why can’t healthy people sell a kidney to someone in need? It is similar to women selling their eggs for a profit— and it’s legal!