Living donation

Did you know that a friend or loved one can be a living donor? Most often, friends or family can donate a kidney. Living donors can also donate liver segments or a lobe from a lung though these are less frequent.

Stories of hope

Lifesaving gifts

The Barker family has been changed forever by donation and transplantation. As a living donor, Reid gave one of his kidneys to a dear friend and former co-worker in 2018. Lisa received a lifesaving liver transplant in 2014. Read their story

Living organ donation dates back to 1954, when a kidney from one twin was successfully transplanted into his identical brother. Today, the number of living organ donors is more than 7,300 per year. And one in four of these donors isn’t biologically related to the recipient.

By offering a kidney, or portion of the liver, living donors offer their loved one or friend an alternative to waiting on the national transplant waiting list for an organ from a deceased donor. To learn more about living organ donation, choose an option below:

Transplants By Donor Type - All Organs
January 1, 2015 - December 31, 2019
Based on OPTN data as of May 25, 2020

Year	Deceased Donor Transplants	Living Donor Transplants
Total	286,410	64,795
2019	32,322	7,397
2018	29,680	6,849
2017	28,588	6,182
2016	27,630	5,980
2015	24,985	5,989
2019	32,322	7,398
2018	29,680	6,849
2017	28,588	6,182
2016	27,630	5,980
2015	24,985	5,989

Data subject to change based on future data submission or correction.