On a quest for kidney donors

By Vanessa Palo

Special To amNewYork

March 13, 2006

Anatoly Potik is among more than 60,000 Americans in need of a kidney transplant, but he might not be able to wait much longer for a donor.

The dialysis machine that cleans his blood to compensate for his kidney's inability to do so can no longer keep up with his body's needs. And neither Potik's wife nor any of his three children is a donor match.

Anxious to find a donor for their 56-year-old father, Potik's family has created a campaign to find one, handing out flyers detailing his condition, creating a Web site, www.kidneyfordad.com, and placing newspaper ads looking for a donor.

"We saw nothing else that we could do," his oldest daughter, Ronit, said, adding that the hospital estimated that the wait for a kidney donation in New York is seven years. "You need to take it into your own hands."

To date, five donors have come forward, and this week they will undergo testing to determine whether one has the proper genetic makeup for a successful transplant.

Each year, roughly one-quarter of patients needing a kidney donation will find a match, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Often these matches happen through registries such as the National Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. However, the NKF estimates that nearly 4,000 patients die each year waiting for a kidney donation.

Dr. Steven Garner of New York Methodist Hospital describes the process as frustrating for patients.

"The good news is that we have perfected the process to such a degree that almost everyone can be matched successfully," Garner said. "The bad news is that we still don't have enough people donating their organs."

Copyright © 2006 Newsday Inc.

This article posted March 28, 2006.