ECU Health Highlights Living Bone Marrow Donation That Saved A Parent As 500+ Patients Await Kidney Transplants

ECU Health Honors Donors As Living bone marrow Donation Saves Mother’s Life

USA: At an annual Pause To Give Life event, ECU Health celebrated organ and tissue donors and recipients while spotlighting a living bone marrow transplant that rescued a local mother who had awaited treatment for years. The gathering shares stories meant to encourage registration and underscore persistent shortages across transplant programs.

Daneilya Whitney became a living donor when two other potential matches withdrew, stepping forward to donate bone marrow to her mother after four years on the transplant list. Her preparation included blood work, consultations and a regimen of injections to stimulate marrow production; the early injections were physically difficult, but she says the outcome justified the process. The procedure is being held up by hospital staff as an example of living donation saving a life.

ECU Health, which specializes in kidney and pancreas transplantation, used the event to note that deceased organ donor numbers rose last year even as demand remains acute. Hospital officials describe hundreds of patients on regional waiting lists, including dozens awaiting kidneys, and stress the ongoing need for both deceased donors and willing living donors.

Medical teams emphasize that living donation can be life-changing but requires a strict health evaluation—labs, imaging and often repeat scans—to ensure donor safety. The Pause To Give Life program aims to honor those who give and to persuade more people to consider registering as organ and tissue donors.

Video originally published on 2026-04-01 17:19:18