UC San Diego Health First Double Living Donor Shows Liver Regrowth, Puts Spotlight On Rare Multi-Organ Donations

UC San Diego Double Living Donor Gives kidney And liver To Save Two Lives

USA: In a rare and dramatic series of living-donor transplantations at UC San Diego Health, a single donor gave a kidney to a close friend and, years later, a portion of her liver to a child she did not know. The sequence of operations spans from a 2019 paired kidney transplant to a later liver donation that doctors say has already regenerated.

The first procedure occurred in 2019 when a local donor underwent surgery to provide a kidney to her friend, both transplants performed at the same hospital on the same day. The shared compatibility between donor and recipient made the paired living kidney transplant possible and deeply meaningful for both parties; the recipient recalls how rare and unexpected the match was and how both women have since valued the outcome.

Four years after the kidney transplant, the donor stepped forward again. In August she donated a segment of her liver to an unrelated child in need. Surgeons report that the donated portion has begun to grow back, and the donor says she has recovered to her prior level of health. Her willingness to undergo multiple major procedures, and to remain available for bone marrow donation should a match arise, marks an uncommon commitment to living donation.

That combination of acts places her among a very small group nationally: a 2022 study noted fewer than 150 people in the United States have served as double living donors. UC San Diego Health identifies her as the institution’s first double living organ donor, a milestone that highlights both the medical capacity for repeat living-donor transplantation and the ethical, logistical, and emotional strength such donations require. Medical teams emphasize careful screening, surgical coordination, and post-operative monitoring to protect donors and recipients alike.

Video originally published on 2026-03-01 18:26:54