Living Donor Climbs Into Action: Wisconsin Donor’s kidney Donation Sparks Voucher Match For child
USA: A Wisconsin woman’s decision to pursue living donation set off a chain that changed a young boy’s life and demonstrated how modern transplant systems work. Thirty-five-year-old Stacy Clemp, already a registered organ donor, responded after learning about a child from the Fond du Lac area who needed a kidney and was on near-daily dialysis. She applied to be a living donor immediately and began the testing process that ultimately showed she was not a direct match for that child.
Rather than ending her effort, the evaluation put her into a paired donation registry. Within two days she was matched to a recipient in Utah and donated a kidney two years ago this month. The original child received a kidney voucher — a registry priority that allowed him to be listed and then matched within five days when a compatible donor became available. The rapid sequence of donation, issuance of a voucher, and subsequent pairing is presented as a practical example of how living donor transplant programs and voucher systems can reduce long waits and enable timely kidney transplantation for children.
The young recipient, who had faced strict dietary limits and intensive dialysis, is now an active six-year-old with far fewer medical restrictions. Beyond the medical turnaround, Clemp and more than a dozen other living donor athletes are preparing to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to advocate that living kidney donation need not limit adventurous, active lives. Organ transplantation, paired donation, and vouchers are central to their message: coordinated living donation can save time, restore quality of life, and expand options for patients awaiting kidney transplantation.
Video originally published on 2026-01-30 12:17:24
