Kilimanjaro Climber Becomes Living Kidney Donor To Neighbor; Mayo Clinic Surgeon Says It Sends Message To 100,000

Nurse Holly Fisk Donates kidney Then Climbs Mount Kilimanjaro

USA: Holly Fisk, a nurse practitioner from Anchorage, became a living donor earlier this year when she gave a kidney to a neighbor in need, setting in motion a chain of events that touched her community and a transplant team at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. The operation, performed March 27, 2024, was reported as successful and placed transplantation and living donation at the center of a small Alaska story with national resonance.

Fisk’s blood type is O‑negative, a match her community described as a one‑in‑100,000 alignment in Anchorage. Neighbor Tiera Maillet said Fisk’s decision to offer an organ changed everything for the family who had been watching a child’s kidney fail. That living donor act, and the recipient’s subsequent recovery in the ICU, illustrated the lifesaving impact of kidney transplantation outside conventional donor networks.

The surgery was led by transplant surgeon Dr. Mikel Prieto at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, whose decades of experience were part of a coordinated care plan for donor and recipient. Medical teams reported the post‑operative course as favorable, with the recipient waking in intensive care showing clear signs of recovery after the transplant.

Fisk celebrated recovery milestones by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with other donors and supporters, calling the ascent “just the start.” Her story underscores the critical shortages behind the roughly 100,000 Americans waiting for a kidney transplant and highlights how one living donor’s choice can ripple outward, renewing conversations about donation, transplantation access, and community action.

Video originally published on 2026-03-24 21:29:24