HEALTH & FITNESS

New Jersey woman saves 4 lives with living kidney donation

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Woman saves 4 lives with living kidney donation

A New Jersey woman is being credited with saving four lives after her kidney donation triggered a chain reaction of organ transplants that stretched across the country.

HACKENSACK, New Jersey (WABC) -- A New Jersey woman is being credited with saving four lives after her kidney donation triggered a chain reaction of organ transplants that stretched across the country.

Gianna Graw, 24, of Lyndhurst, underwent surgery at 3 a.m. December 9 at Hackensack University Medical Center and her kidney was put on a flight to California where it was transplanted into a recipient.

A release from the hospital said Gianna's donation "kicked off a zig-zagging bi-coastal chain of four kidney transplants in Los Angeles, California; Tampa, Florida; Los Angeles again; and finally, San Francisco, California."

Graw said she first heard about kidney donation shortly after her father, a Jersey City police officer, died in 2016.

"My dad dedicated his life to helping others, and I wanted to find a way to honor him and live his legacy," Graw said.

The hospital said Graw was the first patient to make a "good samaritan" kidney donation through its partnership with National Kidney Registry (NKR), an organization that facilitates living donor kidney transplants.

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