laboratory – Midwest Transplant Network

An MTN Laboratory staff member prepares samples for testing.

Living donation allows individuals to donate organs while they are still alive, significantly improving the chances of survival for recipients. The most commonly donated organs are kidneys and segments of the liver. In certain circumstances, other tissues can be donated as well.

According to Donate Life America, in 2024, more than 7,000 people made the decision to give one of their kidneys or a part of their liver to someone waiting for another chance at life. Others gave the healing gift of birth tissue such as placenta and amniotic membrane. Grafts derived from birth tissue promote natural healing for burns and painful wounds.

A living donor has the unique opportunity to decide who to donate their organ to, helping a recipient receive an organ transplant faster. Most living donations occur between family members or close friends. However, some people choose to donate to someone they don’t know. There are powerful stories of real people who have donated and received organs.

While recovery from surgery takes time, living donation is typically safe for the donor and does not affect life expectancy. Most living donors go on to experience active, healthy lives, finding fulfillment in the lasting, positive impact of their decision.

Benefits of Living Donation

As a living donor, you can choose who receives your organ.
You can reduce someone’s waiting time for an organ transplant.
Living kidney donation can shorten or prevent the need for kidney dialysis.
Research has shown that recipients of organs from living donors have better outcomes than those who receive organs from deceased donors.

MTN’s Impact on Living Donation

Midwest Transplant Network’s Laboratory Services team supports living donation by providing testing that transplant programs need to match donors and recipients. The laboratory’s work helps ensure living donor transplants are safe, effective and possible for more patients.

An MTN Laboratory team member holds a vial with a blood sample.

A blood vial in the MTN Laboratory.

Living donation changes lives. MTN is proud to support the generosity of living donors through laboratory testing, making living donor transplants possible for patients and transplant programs in our community.

“I encourage anyone considering living donation – or those who want to support someone on their transplant journey – to learn more about living donor options, including paired kidney exchange, and to talk with their local transplant program about how they can help make a lifesaving difference,” said MTN Chief of Laboratory Services, Christina Bishop, MT, PhD.

Living Donor Day

Living Donor Day is a celebration that takes place in April during National Donate Life Month. It honors living organ and tissue donors for their generous decision to save and heal lives. Living Donor Day is celebrated annually on the first Wednesday in April.

Learn more about living donation.

WESTWOOD, Kan. (Jan. 22, 2020) — Midwest Transplant Network is celebrating a record year in 2019, surpassing its previous milestones for number of organs transplanted, organ donors, eye/tissue donors and laboratory tests performed.

Midwest Transplant Network, the not-for-profit organ procurement organization serving Kansas and the western two-thirds of Missouri, enabled 929 lifesaving organ transplants — a 14% increase compared with 2018. Those gifts came from 282 donor heroes, which represented an 4% increase. MTN also procured gifts from 1,895 eye/tissue donors, a jump of 13% from 2018.

“Our record-breaking year is a testament to the selflessness of our donor heroes and their families, our hard-working staff and our dedicated hospital and community partners,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Jan Finn, RN, MSN. “I’m honored to have colleagues such as our clinical staff who work around the clock to care for donor heroes; those who support donor families throughout their grief journeys; those who ensure safety for transplant recipients in our lab; those who educate the community about the donation registry; those who work with our hospital partners; and the transplant center teams who care for the recipients.”

MTN’s award-winning histocompatibility lab performed 8% more tests compared with the previous year, totaling 31,277 tests assessing blood work for potential matches for organ, tissue and bone marrow transplantation, as well as post-transplant monitoring.

MTN’s performance metric increases reflect a national upward trend for the organ transplant system. The United Network for Organ Sharing reports that nationwide, clinical workers performed nearly 40,000 lifesaving transplants — the seventh consecutive record-breaking year for this data point and a 9% increase from 2018.

Despite transplant increases nationally and locally, the waiting list grows. More than 112,000 people around the country need a lifesaving organ transplant — with 446 of those people living in Kansas and 1,725 in Missouri.

MTN also continues its comprehensive multiyear initiative known as the Green Ribbon Campaign to raise awareness and encourage registration to the organ donor registry. The goal is to promote recognition of the green ribbon as a badge of honor representing the selfless act of becoming a registered organ, eye and tissue donor and the lifesaving impact that donation can provide.

Supporting the campaign are the Green Ribbon Champions, a diverse group of local and regional leaders and well-known personalities who are passionate about increasing the number of registered organ donors in our communities across Kansas and Missouri.

As a result of the campaign and MTN’s other awareness efforts, 80% of adults in Kansas and 78% in Missouri are registered organ donors. While those numbers are strong, MTN is committed to raising them even higher in 2020 because the need for donors still outpaces the number of registrants.

“While I am incredibly proud of the care our staff provided donors, donor families and recipients in 2019, we have so much more work to do to ensure we continue saving more lives and driving more people to the donor registry,” Finn said. “With the support we receive from our outstanding hospital partners, transplant centers, DMV offices and volunteers, the possibilities for what we can accomplish are limitless.”

^* National transplant numbers, national waiting list number and state waiting list numbers as of Jan. 16, 2020.

About Midwest Transplant Network

Midwest Transplant Network has been connecting lives through organ donation since 1973. As the federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organization (OPO) for Kansas and the western two-thirds of Missouri, Midwest Transplant Network provides services including organ procurement; surgical tissue and eye recovery; laboratory testing and 24-hour rapid response for referrals from hospital partners. Midwest Transplant Network ranks in the top 10% in the country among OPOs, which reflects the organization’s quality, professionalism and excellence in partnerships throughout the region. For more information, visit mwtn.org.

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Living Donation: How the MTN Laboratory Facilitates Transplant Success

Organ, Eye and Tissue Donors Saved or Improved Record Number of Lives in 2019