She later learned that rather than having to wait for over three years for a kidney donor she was told of the possibility of having a live transplant.

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Satel herself went through a harrowing 18-month wait for a donor organ after she was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2004.

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Altruistic donation refers to the donation of an organ by a living donor chiefly kidney (and to a lesser extent partial liver) donations without compensation.

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According to an investigation by the CDC and New York city and state health officials, a kidney transplant recipient contracted the virus from a donor in an unnamed New York City hospital in 2009.

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In a study from India, kidney transplant patients had crushed donor kidney tissue injected into their thymus - the body's "immune engine room" where cells can be "educated".

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Most nations have instead adopted highly regulated donation systems like the United Network of Organ Sharing in the U.S. UNOS monitors each kidney, lung, heart or liver available from a deceased donor going to a patient on a wait list.

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