By Katherine Adams
UTMB's Tree of Life, displayed in the Jennie Sealy Hospital lobby, stands as a lasting tribute to those who have given the gift of life through organ donation.
In April, UTMB partnered with the Southwest Transplant Alliance to host its annual Donate Life event in recognition of National Donate Life Month. STA is the Dallas-based nonprofit organ procurement organization responsible for donor procurements at UTMB’s Galveston and League City campuses.
The ceremony honored transplant recipients, living donors and donor families, with many team members from UTMB and STA in attendance in front of the Tree of Life to show their support. (For photos, see this month’s Candid Camera.)
Kayla Polidori's donation story
She’s not quite sure why, but Kayla Polidori says she’s always been drawn to the role of transplant coordinator in a hospital. Polidori, a registered nurse with years of experience in medical-surgical nursing and endoscopy at UTMB, always admired transplant coordinators and somehow felt it was her calling to become one herself.
Her experience as a supervisor in a transplant clinic qualified her for her current position as transplant coordinator at UTMB, a role she’s held for the last four years. And in March of 2024, she took her calling to support organ donors and recipients to the next level by becoming an organ donor herself.
“I’m not sure why I went into this particular patient’s room, because he was actually my coworker’s patient, but she was very busy that day. So I went in to see him for her,” she said. “I see thousands of patients and he’s got a very common name, so I didn’t think anything of it. I finally realized he was the husband of a former coworker of mine. They were both employed at UTMB, but she had retired, and he was still here. I don’t know what it was that happened that day. I just felt like it was meant for me to donate my kidney to him.”
Her recipient, aged 59, was in ESRD, or end stage renal disease. He had been on dialysis at home with a catheter in his stomach, sleeping with it each night. She said his quality of life was diminishing steadily, and in March 2024, he was unable to visit his daughter, who had just given birth to his second grandchild. He did not feel well enough, and it was simply too complicated to travel with all the dialysis equipment.
“He just wasn’t feeling well, and he wasn’t able to enjoy his life,” Polidori said. “His life expectancy on dialysis was only about another six or seven years, but it would have gotten continually harder for him.”
She explained that the most common reasons for ESRD were high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV, chemotherapy, and chronic kidney disease, but there was a plethora of reasons why kidneys might fail—and sometimes, doctors are not even able to determine the reason.
The process to be tested to determine if two people are a match for organ donation is lengthy. It starts with blood matching, continues with tissue matching, and there are other tests and examinations. Only about 10% of people who intend to be an organ donor make it through the process and are able to donate. A donor’s family medical history is thoroughly investigated, and those with any history of hypertension, heart disease, renal disease, kidney stones or diabetes are not likely to be eligible.
“Our blood test was a match. Our tissue test was a match,” she said. “I had to have a mammogram and some other examinations to make sure I was as healthy as I could be, and I had to lose some weight, which took a while. Still, I was a match, but my recipient did not know until two or three weeks before the surgery that I would donate my kidney to him.”
She successfully completed the process, and on Feb. 26, 2025, she had her left kidney removed.
“In a living donor, it’s preferable to have the left kidney removed, because the right kidney is in a more complicated position next to the liver,” she explained. “Also, doctors look at both kidneys to see which is bigger. They prefer to leave you with the bigger kidney, because it’s going to have to take over the work of both kidneys once one is removed.”
'It takes a toll'
The removal of her organ left Polidori in intense discomfort the second day after surgery. It improved after just one day, but she said many patients have difficulty coping emotionally with the trauma of the entire process and the surgery, and that it’s important to remember that the adrenal gland, which is critical to a person’s ability to manage stress, is also removed with the kidney. It takes time to adjust and learn new ways to manage heavy emotions and stress.
“Some people get very emotional and even depressed and have a hard time stabilizing after donating a kidney,” she said. “It’s a lengthy process. Sometimes you’re going through a whole year of thinking and talking about this all the time. Internally, it’s a big decision. It takes a toll.”
She added that even though her pain subsided quickly, the overwhelming exhaustion after surgery was difficult. The body can take several weeks to adjust to the fact that one kidney has taken over all the function.
“I’m normally a worrier, but I was never worried or scared about this, even on the morning of the surgery,” she said. “I’ve never had surgery before, but I just thought, let’s get this done. And on that second day, when I had a lot of pain, I was alone with my incredible transplant surgeon, Dr. Trine Engebretsen. That was the first time I cried, and I said, ‘I did it!’ But it was hard to realize I had fewer organs in my body.”
After only three days in the hospital, she went home and is on no medication and has no restrictions, other than to keep her weight down, and take Tylenol for pain instead of NSAIDs.
“It was absolutely worth it,” she said. “I have absolutely no regrets. My other kidney took over function. My labs are just fine.”
Along the way, she joined an online support group for organ donors. Together, they discuss all the emotional and physical ups and downs they face throughout the donation process. “This is something I knew what supposed to happen,” she said. “We talk about this in our group—we believe that even though it’s great that we could help someone, doing it in this way is something we were meant to do with ourselves in our lives. The people that I talk to who have also donated an organ believe it’s part of our life journey, and this is how it was meant to be."
Texas Transplant Center at UTMB
Organ transplantation at UTMB’s Texas Transplant Center was started at UTMB more than 50 years ago and has grown into the Texas Transplant Center at UTMB with 3,400 patients transplanted since the program began.
Transplantation is considered one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of medicine, giving hope to thousands of people with organ failure and providing many others with active and renewed lives.
The transplant center at UTMB works to fill the gap between supply and demand for viable organs from donors both living and deceased.
According to statistics proivided by STA, there are more than 100,000 men, women and children on the national transplant waiting list—10,000 in Texas—with another person added every nine minutes. Seventeen people die each day waiting for an organ transplant, according to those statistics.
The good news is that every organ donor can help save eight lives and improve the lives of more than 75 other patients through transplantation of tissue and corneas.
But, STA reports, only three in 1,000 individuals die in a manner compatible with organ donation, and the organs of many of those potential donors never make it to transplantation, according to STA representative Gina Fullen. Many people haven't signed up to be a donor. Some die unexpectedly and never have the chance, while others just never get around to it or are too nervous about the notion to make the commitment.
In other cases, Fullen said, people who do register as donors often don't specifically let family members know about their wishes. Whereas organ donation is a legally binding document, the family is faced with an uncomfortable and often heartbreaking situation.
UTMB Associate Chief Nursing Officer Jason Sheaffer helped coordinate the Donate Life event and said the celebration reminded him why he does what he does.
“At UTMB we are thrilled to recognize and celebrate our donors and their gifts," Sheaffer said. "The Tree of Life celebration is a very special and poignant moment that we have been proud to produce the last two years and are looking forward to celebrating for many more.
"Organ donation represents perhaps the most important decision a person facing sudden unexpected end of life can make," he added, "as it potentially creates joy out of sorrow and hope from hopelessness."
In April, UTMB celebrated National Donate Life Month with its annual Donate Life event honoring transplant recipients, living donors and donor families.