A Family Bond: The Gift of Life Through Living Kidney Donation
Linda Monich, living kidney donor, shares what her experience was like donating a kidney to her husband, Tim, at the Massachusetts General Hospital Transplant Center.
Contact Information
Massachusetts General Hospital
165 Cambridge Street, Suite 301
Boston,
MA
02114
Phone: 877-644-2860
Fax: 617-724-8652
Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Additional Kidney Evaluation Clinic Locations
Mass General at Chelsea HealthCare Center
100 Everett Avenue
Chelsea, MA 02150
Phone: 877-644-2860
Fax: 617-724-8652
Mass General—North Shore
102-104 Endicott Street
Danvers, MA 01923
Phone: 877-644-2860
Fax: 617-724-8652
Mass General Brigham—Wentworth-Douglass Hospital (Pease)
67 Corporate Drive, Building A
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Phone: 877-644-2860
Fax: 617-724-8652
Mass General at Cooley Dickinson Hospital
30 Locust Street
Northampton, MA 01060
Mass General at Southern New Hampshire Nephrology & Hypertension
38 Tyler Street, 2nd Floor
Nashua, NH 03060
Related Programs:
Support Us
Xenotransplant Trial
To be put on the list for the xenotransplant trial, visit www.mghxenotransplant.org.
A pioneer in organ transplant since 1963, the Kidney Transplant Program at Massachusetts General Hospital uses leading-edge technology to provide individualized care for patients with advanced kidney disease.
Our surgeons perform more kidney transplants every year than other New England hospitals, and achieve some of the best graft and survival rates nationwide.
Mass General is home to one of the largest transplant research centers in the world, with cutting-edge technology and approaches such as protocols that enable transplant recipients to thrive without antirejection drugs.
Following kidney transplant, patients typically require lifelong immunosuppressive medications to prevent their immune systems from attacking the new organ. However, our groundbreaking research is allowing some patients to live drug-free after transplant.
Mass General has one the fastest growing robotic surgery programs in New England, allowing quicker recovery of our patients following surgery among other benefits.
With a dedicated team of more than 100 providers, we provide individualized care for patients with complex medical and surgical conditions including obesity, cancer, and high sensitization.
An accelerated process with minimal testing allows patients to accumulate time on the waitlist quicker than other centers.
Our living donor kidney team at Mass General performs more living donor kidney transplants than any other center in New England. We offer a variety of resources to support patients pursuing living donation including monthly coaching sessions on how to find a living donor, ways to prevent financial burden, and a robust paired-kidney exchange program for incompatible living donor pairs
Our physician-scientists at Mass General have over 30 years of experience pioneering xenotransplantation. We are harnessing cutting-edge science to enhance the compatibility of pig kidneys with the human body, making pig-to-human transplants safer than ever. This innovative approach offers renewed hope to those awaiting life-saving kidney transplants.
For current and prospective patients interested in more information about xenotransplantation at MGH, please visit www.mghxenotransplant.org.
Referral
Once your doctor makes a referral, the transplant team will contact you to make an appointment. Patients can self-refer by requesting an appointment by phone or web-based form.
Evaluation
The process starts with an evaluation appointment, which includes gathering your medical history, a physical exam and minimal initial tests.
Selection
Your evaluation is reviewed by a committee to determine if you are eligible for a transplant.
Waitlisting
If your evaluation is approved, your name is added to the national deceased donor waitlist (UNOS) and living donor search starts.
Readiness
As you move towards the top of the waitlist, approaching your anticipated organ offer date, OR if you have an approved living donor, it's time to get ready.
Transplant
When there is a match, the team will help you prepare for your transplant.
After transplant
After your transplant, you'll work with the transplant team to create an action plan for your ongoing care.
The Mass General Kidney Transplant team guides patients through every stage of care with a multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, case managers, financial coordinators and other clinicians to help navigate the transplant process.
Mass General performs significantly more kidney transplants than other Massachusetts institutions. Higher volumes mean more experience. Our high volume of kidney transplants—and skilled team of kidney transplant surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and social workers who guide patients through every stage of care—help us to attain excellent results in treating patients who need a kidney transplant.
Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network (OPTN)
Data period: January 1, 2024 to November 30, 2024.
The Mass General Kidney Transplant Program ranks among the highest in the United States for survival after transplant surgery. Three years after transplant surgery, about 96% of Mass General patients are alive with a functioning graft — transplanted organ — compared to 88% nationwide.
Data Source: Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR)
Data Period: Transplants: July 1, 2018 - March 12, 2020 (Follow-up until March 12, 2020)
Transplants: June 13, 2020 - December 31, 2020 (Follow-up until December 31, 2023)
Patients share their experiences receiving care at the Mass General Transplant Center.
A New Kidney, a New Life: Jesus’ Story
When Jesus needed a new kidney, his wife, Teresa, wanted to become his living donor. But, she was an incompatible match. With the help of their Mass General team, they participated in a paired-kidney exchange.
Patient Story: Richard Smith
At 38 years old, Richard needed a new kidney to survive. Learn how a kidney received through living donation at Mass General saved Richard's life.
A Family Bond: The Gift of Life Through Living Kidney Donation
An organ transplant can completely transform a recipient’s health and quality of life. Linda Monich, living kidney donor, shares what her experience was like donating a kidney to her husband, Tim, at the Mass General Transplant Center.
Watch the following videos from the Transplant Center to learn more about kidney transplantation at Mass General.
MGH Kidney Disease, Transplantation, and Innovations
In this Mass General Blum Learning Center presentation, Leonardo V. Riella, MD, PhD, discusses the challenges of kidney disease, explains why kidney transplantation is the best treatment option for most patients, and shares current exciting innovations at Mass General.
What to Expect for Kidney Transplantation
This educational video informs Mass General kidney transplant candidates on what to expect for their transplant.
Transplant Medication Education
Christin Marks, transplant pharmacist, provides an overview of what to expect from medications that patients take after transplant.
The Road to Racial Equity in Kidney Transplant
In this Mass General Blum Learning Center presentation, Winfred Williams, MD, and Jamil Sulemana, RN, BSN, discuss kidney disease in the Black community, the differences between dialysis and kidney transplant, and when one should consider kidney transplantation.
Q&A About Living Donation
Leigh Anne Dageforde, MD, MPH, transplant and hepatobiliary surgeon, talks about what it means to be a living donor and the difference one donation can make.
To begin the kidney transplant process, your primary care physician or nephrologist can submit a referral for you, or you can request an appointment directly.
Once received, a kidney transplant nurse coordinator and transplant nephrologist will review your records and schedule your evaluation at either our Boston location or one of our community locations.
During the initial evaluation, patients will:
If you are also a candidate for pancreas transplantation, you will be evaluated for both transplants at the same time.
As often as possible, our team aims to complete an evaluation for early kidney transplant within two weeks of receiving a referral or appointment request. Early transplant allows for patients to accrue time on the national waitlist as soon as possible and avoid dialysis.
After the initial visit, you will return for additional testing, which may include, cardiac stress testing, chest X-ray and electrocardiogram (EKG), additional blood and urine tests, and abdominal imaging. Patients may be asked to schedule tests with their primary care physician and/or other specialists, such as a colonoscopy (age 45+), mammogram (age 40+), or pap smear. Alternatively, if these tests have been performed within the past year, patients can simply provide the recent results.
Once all testing is complete, the Mass General transplant team will determine the patient’s readiness for a kidney transplant and outline the next steps.
Once you are determined to be ready for kidney transplant surgery, your care team will review with you your options for receiving a donor organ – living donation and deceased donation.
The best option to receive a new kidney is from a living kidney donor, as living donation does not require you to spend time on the organ waitlist, reduces your need for dialysis, and more. Living donors are often someone in the patient’s life who is willing to donate their kidney to them.
Patients without a living donor are placed on the national deceased donor waitlist. Because there are many more people in need of a kidney transplant than there are kidneys available, patients may wait on the list for few years. As time progresses, patients move to the top of the list and receive a kidney.
When a deceased donor organ becomes available, you will receive a call from our coordinator or surgeon, asking you to come into the hospital for the transplant. Since this call can come at any time, you should provide our center with all of your phone numbers, as well as the phone numbers of a few emergency contacts, so that we can contact you when needed.
MGH is home to one of the largest transplant research centers in the world and is the leading teaching hospital from Harvard Medical School.
Transplant patients take medications to keep their immune system from rejecting their new organs. The standard medications used today are effective but have many side effects, including toxicity to the transplanted kidney which tends to shorten the lifespan of the organ. Less toxic drugs have been developed to support better long-term kidney function. The MGH Transplant Center is one of many academic medical centers conducting clinical trials using these newer immunosuppressive agents.
In spite of advances over the last 50 years in anti-rejection medications, the side effects of long-term immunosuppressive therapy remain a major problem for post-transplant patients. The MGH Transplant Center has been a leader in developing procedures that allow transplant patients to take fewer or no medications. These protocols continue to improve in living donor kidney transplantation and will soon expand to include patients who receive deceased donor kidneys as well.
The United States is facing a significant organ shortage. Currently, over 108,000 individuals need an organ, but fewer than 40,000 transplants are performed every year in the U.S. To address this unmet health care need, we are investigating the use of pig-to-human transplantation. With recent advances in genetic modification technology, we have now achieved the first successful kidney xenotransplant in 2024.
With three decades of dedicated research, our team at Mass General is leading the way in using genetically engineered pig kidneys to address the critical shortage of organs. These transplants from pigs to humans are a beacon of hope for patients awaiting vital kidney transplants, made safer and more compatible through genetic advancements. With patients at the center, we are committed to safety and efficacy for all.
The absence of insulin-producing cells in the body results in type 1 diabetes. Islet transplantation replaces the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas without the risks of major abdominal surgery that come with a whole organ pancreas transplant. The MGH Transplant Center is one of the few centers in the country, and the only in New England, that can isolate and transplant pancreatic islets. Islet transplantation is an option for patients who have had a previous kidney transplant and for those without kidney disease.
Recurrence of kidney disease is the third leading cause of graft loss. The MGH Kidney Transplant Program is leading a multicenter study looking at kidney disease recurrence after transplantation, tackling challenges such as FSGS recurrence and IgA recurrence.
Infections after transplant are relatively common, especially within the first year. All transplant patients receive prophylactic therapy in order to prevent such infections. The MGH Transplant Center is participating in clinical trials which utilize different medications and monitoring of infections in order to prevent and treat post-transplant infections.
The HOPE Act allows organs from HIV positive donors to be transplanted into HIV positive recipients. These are organs that would have been discarded before the HOPE Act was passed. The MGH Transplant Center is one of the few hospitals in the United States doing these transplants.
Currently there are more available hepatitis C positive deceased donors in New England than there are recipients. With the arrival of new anti-viral agents Hepatitis C cure rates are almost at 100%. Under a clinical trial protocol, we are now transplanting kidneys from donors who are positive for hepatitis C virus into select recipients who are not infected with the hepatitis C virus. Patients who enter into this trial receive immediate pre-emptive treatment for Hepatitis C. This will allow these selected recipients to be receive a transplant more quickly, avoiding many consequences of prolonged time on the waitlist and dialysis related complications.
Through the EqKT Kidney Transplant Evaluation Program, the Transplant Center is committed to providing equitable care in the communities it serves.
We operate the only center in the world dedicated to preventing organ rejection after transplantation without the use of lifelong immunosuppressants.
Our surgeons have some of the best patient survival rates in the country
Over 96% of Mass General patients are alive three years after transplant with a functioning graft compared to 90% nationwide.
Linda Monich, living kidney donor, shares what her experience was like donating a kidney to her husband, Tim, at the Massachusetts General Hospital Transplant Center.
When Ann Foti learned that she could become a living donor for her husband, Gino, she was determined to donate her kidney to him; however, because of complications with Gino’s condition and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, their journey toward transplantation surgery was far from simple.
Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system, announced the world’s first successful transplant of a genetically-edited pig (porcine) kidney into a 62-year-old man living with end-stage kidney disease.
In the past, the calculation of the eGFR for Black individuals could result in an overestimation of kidney function, which could delay their disease stage identification and treatment. The United Organ Sharing Network has removed the race variable in the eGFR calculation, making it race-neutral.
Read a patient’s experience about undergoing kidney transplant surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, and receiving a new kidney through living donation.
When her family member was in need, Andrea wasted no time in becoming a living kidney donor. She became Mass General’s first living donor to undergo robotic nephrectomy.
Linda Monich, living kidney donor, shares what her experience was like donating a kidney to her husband, Tim, at the Massachusetts General Hospital Transplant Center.
When Ann Foti learned that she could become a living donor for her husband, Gino, she was determined to donate her kidney to him; however, because of complications with Gino’s condition and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, their journey toward transplantation surgery was far from simple.
Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system, announced the world’s first successful transplant of a genetically-edited pig (porcine) kidney into a 62-year-old man living with end-stage kidney disease.
In the past, the calculation of the eGFR for Black individuals could result in an overestimation of kidney function, which could delay their disease stage identification and treatment. The United Organ Sharing Network has removed the race variable in the eGFR calculation, making it race-neutral.
The Kidney Transplant Program at Massachusetts General Hospital is one of the largest and most experienced in the country, providing individualized and innovative care to patients with advanced kidney failure.