The Truth about Living Donation

---

Transcript

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Welcome to Prescribed Listening from the University of Toledo Medical Center. On this podcast, we interview our experts to get the answers you need and can trust. I'm your host, Chrissy Billau. Organ donation, it's a mystery that can be kind of scary to people, followed then by a lot of misconceptions. So whether you're considering becoming a donor, know someone who has, or you just have a lot of questions about the process, let's ask the expert. Dr. Obi Ekwenna, a transplant surgeon from the UTMC urology department, thank you so much for joining us.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Thank you for having me.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So some quick numbers to go through first, so you can see the big picture of why we're even talking about this. The latest numbers I found, there are about 104,000 individuals on a transplant wait list in the US, and that's all organs. Now of those, almost 89,000 are awaiting a kidney transplant, kidneys by far the most common transplant done in the US. And these people, they're tethered to a machine several times a week on dialysis. Dr. Obi, how long can they live on dialysis waiting for a transplant?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Excellent question. Well, first, dialysis carries a mortality risk, meaning patients who are on dialysis are at risk of death. Right? We're all at risk of death, but there's a higher risk associated with dialysis. And what is that number? Well, if you took 100 patients or 100 people who started dialysis today, today is April-

Host: Chrissy Billau:

6th.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

6th, 2023. And we followed those 100 patients out for say 10 years, guess how many will be alive, 18.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Oh, wow.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

So the mortality risk on dialysis is significant, actually compared to certain cancers, when we talk about cancers, people get kind of set up a little bit. Right? When we talk about cancers, we talk about stage three cancers, so being on dialysis for five years carries a higher risk than most cancers except lung cancer, stage three. So dialysis carries a significant mortality risk, and so the best option for patients who are on dialysis is to get off dialysis as soon as possible.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So about 89,000 people need a kidney right now. Last year in all of 2022, there were about 25,500 kidney transplants in the US. And of those, nearly 6000 were from living donors, so the majority were from people who died and donated their organs. So to save more people who are waiting for that phone call, that phone call saying, "We have a new kidney for you," we need more living donors. Is that right, Dr. Obi?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Absolutely. This is an area that we need to improve on, and we need to improve on, we need to have more people donate. They're living donors. And I think that would help.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So let's start off by addressing what people might not understand about the process of living donation. There is a laundry list of misconceptions about the process. So let's go one by one, and then you tell me your answer to what I'm telling you.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Sure.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Medical staff and first responders will not fight to save my life as aggressively if I become an organ donor.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

That's false. It's a myth. It's a myth. The medical responders, the doctors, their first instinct is to save the person's life or save anyone's life, and so it's a myth.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Yeah, they're probably not looking at your driver's license.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

They don't know your name a lot of times. So one of the things when I was a medical student and when I rotated in trauma, for example, is that everybody that comes into trauma has no name. They're Mr. X or Mr. Unknown, Mr. Jones. Everybody was Mr. Jones or Mrs. Jones. And so the goal always is to save the life of someone who is in distress.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Okay. Number two, if I donate an organ, I have a huge risk of dying. I'm going to be in so much pain and it's going to be worse for me than the recipient.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Not true. Another myth. Well, first of all, living donation, donating a kidney is safe. So living donation is safe. The first person to donate their kidney was in 1954. That was the first person to successfully donate their kidney, and that happened in Boston. It was a set of twins, so that gentlemen, last name was Herrick, he donated to his twin brother in 1954. He lived until he was about 78 years old, there about. He lived to be old then died of natural causes, so that's one example of where the history starts. And so if there's any message that ... I mean, one of the messages is that living donation is very safe. Before you donate your kidney, we make sure that the risk to the donor is absolutely negligible. Matter of fact, what I tell donors as they step in is, I'm looking for a reason for you not to donate. Right?

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Yeah, I'm leaning towards no.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

I'm leaning towards no. So if you go through the process, then it's pretty safe for you.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

The first one was 70 years ago. Think of how technology and all of the ... Everything [inaudible 00:05:50].

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Exactly. And now we do the surgeries through a minimally invasive approach, and there's minimal to no, I'll say minimal discomfort. And we make sure that kidney, that one kidney, will sustain that person for the rest of their lives. And there are all the protections, I'm sure we'll talk about those as well.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Number three, your ethnicity matters when it comes to organ donation.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

False. We don't even ... It's not a consideration in many ways. I would say there's a caveat that there are patients who are at risk or higher risk, certain people of certain backgrounds that may be at a higher risk of kidney disease, and so we screen those patients very, very thoroughly before they donate. So ethnicity doesn't necessarily play a role, but we definitely consider screening people who are at risk for kidney disease very, very thoroughly before allow them to donate. People who have family history of kidney disease, for example, they have to be looked at very carefully, people who have family history of diabetes, we look at that. People who have a genetic predisposition to kidney disease in their family, we look at that very carefully. So there's a caveat to that, but not necessarily ethnicity in that sense.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Okay. And my last one for you, you can only donate to a relative.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

False, again. It's a myth, not necessarily a falsehood, but I think it's just more of a myth. People, you can donate, any stranger can donate to another person. There are altruistic donors, meaning people who just out of the goodness of their hearts say, "Hey, I just want to help somebody else out. I want to give this gift of life to another individual," so that can happen.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Are there any other myths or misconceptions that you hear that you think need to be put out there and addressed?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Right. There are a lot of different misconceptions. I think the biggest one is fear, that oh, man, I'm not going to make it through this. And the truth is that we have a long history of looking at donors, making sure that nothing bad happens to the donor, nothing must happen to the donor, I always thought, and we take every precaution to make sure that's the case. And so fear I think is the biggest one. And sometimes even the recipient, the potential recipient is like, "I don't know if I want my family member to donate," so that comes in as well. And that comes from a place of, I don't want to put my family in harm's way. Right?

Nobody wants to do that. But the truth is that the family member that's trying to donate, a lot of times wants their family member to live. Right? As you read off those statistics earlier, the mortality from dialysis is significant. It's very high. And all of us want our family members to life. Right? And it comes from a place of love and a place of, hey, I want my family member to life. And so fear, overcoming fear.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So let's say you've convinced me. Now I'm going to sign up to be an organ donor. Let's talk about the process. What do you need to consider to become one, to sign up?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Right. So as we talked about, I think you kind of alluded to that, there's two types of donation. Right? One is donating, live donation. So you go in now and you say, "Hey, I want to give my kidney, or I want to give a part of my liver to somebody else." That's living donation. Then there's deceased donation, so if somebody, something happened to me, I'm incapacitated, my brain function is gone, or I'm at a place where I cannot live in a real sense, or I'm on life support and there's no way out, then I'm an organ donor because I've signed up on my license that if something was to happen to me, that my organs can be utilized to save someone else's life, so that's deceased donation. And to be an organ donor, you can talk to your family members now.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Let them know.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Let them know what your intentions are, what you would like if you were in this position. Right? And you can sign when you go renew your license or you can go to Donate Life, and you can go there and sign up that you want to be an organ donor. And so that's declaring that you have this intention to donate.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So that God forbid if something ever happens to me, please do this. So you either get it on your driver's license.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Exactly, or sign up through, I think it's Donate Life. You can sign up to be an organ donor. For living donation, on the other hand, I mean, maybe we can delve into that a little bit. So if you want to be a living donor, you can contact the transplant center and let them know that, hey, I want to donate my organ, or donate a kidney, or liver, a part of your liver to a patient. And they have a process that you must go through to ensure that you do so safely. And as I said, most transplant centers, actually all transplant centers will do an extensive workup to make sure that you donate in a safe and sound way.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So if you're a living donor and you want to donate to somebody, you call a donation center, UTMC-

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

A transplant center. Yeah, exactly, you can call UTMC transplant center and sign up to get evaluated. And the thing about donation is that there is no cost to you.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

That was my next question. Do you have to pay anything?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

You do not have to pay for evaluation. And sometimes I used to ... One of the things that we talk about is that sometimes, a lot of times, people step forward to donate, and sometimes we find a reason for them not to, and then it saves their live.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Oh, because you discover something else that has been going under the surface for so long.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Exactly, because sometimes we find something that they actually need to go and fix, or they need to go and take care of. Right? Because a lot of times we're all walking around like nothing is happening. But when you do some investigations or try to figure out, okay, can this person donate safely, we find something. Maybe they are hypertensive and they did not know that. Or maybe they have protein in their urine, and maybe we've got to take care of that. Or they do a colonoscopy and there's something there, or they see that gynecologist and do a pap smear, and there's something to deal with. Or they do a mammogram and they find something.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

This is thorough.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

It is. We look into your hairline.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Wow.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

We are looking at every part of the person and to make sure that they are fit and that there's minimal risk to them.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So say I actually make it through this process, wow, and it's, yes, you're a good person that is a good fit for this.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Yes.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

The process, the surgery, everything, do you pay for that?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

No. It's absolutely completely free to the donor at no cost because they've already paid the price. Right? They're laying their lives on the line, so it's pretty seamless in that regard that there's no cost. Other thing that I discovered recently is that in the state of Ohio, for example, if you are a state employee, if you're a state employee and you've come to, you've stepped forward to donate your organ, the state has a guideline that allows for you to donate your organ and get paid for that time off, compensation for the time off. And sometimes that's hindrance. And so yes, the state will ... It actually sort of encourages folks to step forward to help others because at least they can get compensated for their time away from work, which is pretty good and another added protection.

So we talk about when somebody donates their kidney, there has to be some protection for them. Right? One, lost wages, they need to have some protection for that. There is a national assistance, a living donor assistance program that exists. So that national living donor assistance program allows for patients who, if they don't work for the state, they can get assistance for their lost wages, for transportation, making sure that nothing costs them. One of the things that we would like to see happen is that maybe insurance can be provided for certain patients who want to donate. And there are programs that actually will allow that. So a donor can get, say, life insurance, medical benefits, disability insurance that's paid for, that would encourage them to donate. Right? And then within the deceased donor program, if you donate your kidney and God forbid you lose your kidney or end up needing dialysis and need a kidney transplant, then you are automatically number one on the list.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So if you're signed up to be a donor, but then something happens to you that you need to get something-

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Get a kidney.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

You get moved to the top of the list.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Absolutely. Yes.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

They should start with that.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Right. No, that already happens.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Insurance.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

That already happens. Yeah. So what I'm saying is there is donor protection. And we can do more to protect donors because if you're rest assured that, hey, if I take time off work, I'm not going to be penalized because some people worry about that. It's just making sure that donors are protected. And already, there's one protection, which is if you lose your kidney for whatever reason down the line, you're going to be placed on the deceased donor list, and you're going to be number one. You just go up the list and be sort of offered a kidney because you donated a kidney.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Yeah. If I'm interested in doing any of this, being an organ donor, but I have a question about it, who do I call, my primary care doctor?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

You can ask your primary care doctor, or just call the UTMC transplant program. We are always available and ready to answer any questions. We have coordinators on standby who can answer your questions if you're interested in being a living donor. Whatever questions, we're here. And if we don't have the answers, we'll direct you as we should.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

And once you become an organ donor, everything's done, and you've recovered, how does it impact you? I mean, do you talk to donors in the future?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Absolutely. Donors, people who step forward to save another person's life, it's an amazing, I can't describe it other than to say that these people are just ... We say amazing, we use the word amazing a lot. We use the word awesome. We use the word altruistic. We use the best of the best among us. Right? Family members to give, to lay on there, is not without risk. The risk is very minimal, but it still has a risk associated with it. And so these are the best people among us.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

I know. And that's why I always feel so guilty because I've never had to be in that position, thank goodness. But I keep thinking if my brother needed it, if my nephew needed it, I would say yes in a heartbeat if I was the match.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Sure.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

But then afterwards, I would think, "I won't be able to help my own kids if they need it."

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Yeah, yeah. Well, the beauty of that is that there's even programs now that if you wanted to donate your organ to somebody, there's a program that you can sign up that allows for if something happens to your family member or your child, then they will get a kidney. So there's a way to sort of ... You pay it forward and then you're also protected in that sense. Like someone like you, who's thinking about this, or ... Yeah, so there's a way to kind of sort of help people. You pay it forward, and then knowing that your family's protected is sort of a reassurance in that sense. But we're hoping that we don't have to get there, I guess.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Even if the way you were talking, it sounds like if I donate to somebody else, I don't know if somehow my family member moves up on the list. I don't know how that works. You're assured that they might get one.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Yeah. So I'll tell you a story to buttress that point that you're trying to make. So there was a grandfather whose grandson we know has ... The grandson tested ... I mean, that grandson has kidney disease that will progress. And then eventually, that grandson will need a kidney. Right? But grandpa cannot donate to his grandson right now, so he wanted to give his kidney today, so that his grandson in the future can get a kidney. You see that?

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So it's kind of even if it's in 15 years.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

It's in 100 years, 40 years, so grandpa gave his kidney today, so that in 30 years from now when his grandson needs a kidney, he'll get a kidney.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

That's love.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

That is amazing. It sends chills down your spine thinking about it. Right? So if you had someone in your family that had kidney disease, and that you know that person was going to eventually ... There's some diseases, for example, polycystic kidney disease, so if somebody has a genetic predisposition that makes them certainly that they will have kidney disease at some point in their life, then if I wanted to give my kidney to my son, who's going to eventually have kidney disease today, I can because grandpa, the story I was telling you, grandpa is 65 years old. Right? And so grandpa is not going to be able to be eligible to donate, or be too old to donate, or something may happen and then he cannot donate. So he says, "Hey, can I donate today for my grandson?" And that's amazing, and there is a way to figure that out, so to speak. You see?

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Yep. So on the other case, what if my husband needs some, but I am not a match? From my understanding the UTMC, we have the thing where I can donate to somebody, something else, and then I don't know how it's going to happen, but something will come to my husband.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Exactly. Yeah, that something is a life-saving organ.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Yes. Donate to someone else, so someone else will donate to him.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Exactly. So it's called an exchange, a paired exchange. So a paired exchange program was initiated many years ago, and yes, we participate in paired exchange, where there's incompatible pairs. We can put them in a pool, and there can be an exchange of kidneys. So your intention is a donor is to make sure that your loved one gets a kidney. It may not necessarily be your kidney, or your organ, but you really wanted them to get a kidney, so there's a possibility of you donating to Mr. B. in say, Michigan, and Mr. B's donor can donate to your loved one. And then everybody gets benefit. Right? And that can happen multiple times. You can imagine that these chains can continue and you can help a lot of different people.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So does your lifestyle change after you donate an organ in terms of your physiology and your daily processes?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Not at all. There's no major change. Yes, you have some scars from your incision, but other than that, patients are able to, donors are able to live a normal life. If there's a risk of, when someone has one kidney, they still have to take care of themselves in terms of making sure that they see a doctor, take good care as we recommend for all patients. Right? Living donors need to do that.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Now if you sign up to be a donor and you're in a situation where your organs are donated upon your death, what kind of funeral can you have?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

You have a normal funeral. You can have an open casket or a closed casket, however you ... The bodies are maintained in the same, just like ... If after donation, we prepared an open casket for someone who donated, and then someone who did not donate, you cannot tell the difference.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

I have a 14-year-old stepson. He had to have knee surgery, was a mes. They ended up using an entire cadaver hamstring to fix it. So he went from being ... He was this athlete who did everything, and then he couldn't do it anymore.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Wow.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

This was life changing for him. I know in the grand scheme, but it was for us, do it to me, not to him. This is his whole life ahead of him. So they do the surgery and they use all this. He writes. They encourage you, just write a letter. You don't know who it is. Just who you are, I love to play sports and this allows me to do what I love again. And then the person wrote back, the wife of the person who had died, a young father with young kids, who loved playing sports too. So they had actually-

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Connection.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Genuine writing him back like, "Thank you for letting us know. He would be honored that it was used." So there's a lot of care, even if you don't know them.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

It's beautiful. It's life. Yeah, so transplant has those stories. And it touches on everything that makes us human and everything that makes it beautiful to live and to connect because that's all we want. We want to connect with people. We want to connect with ... And it's miraculous.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Yes, it is. So okay, I'm going to stop crying now. And switching to UTMC.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Yes.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

The hospital had a ton, 200 successful kidney donations in 2022, and that's not only life-changing, that's a record for the hospital.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Indeed.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Can you talk about the transplant program? What are we doing? I mean, we're doing something right.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Yeah. We are. We are doing something really, really well here. And those 200 transplants that happened, or 200 individuals that had the opportunity to live their lives in a more fulfilled way, and at least had that opportunity to do that. And so it's a testament. It's the numbers, yes, but truly is the human beings that were touched and the opportunity that they had to live, so that's that. Yeah, UTMC over the past five, six years, I think we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of kidneys that we've been able to do. It's a testament to the team that we have. Transplant is truly a team sport. Before the patients actually arrive at the operating room, there's a tremendous amount of work that has to be done to get them there, which involves every part of the hospital. Every person that works at the University of Toledo plays a part in that. And yes, ultimately, we are the ones in the transplant service, or the transplant program that have to take care of the patients.

But before they get to us, the dialysis centers, the nephrologist, the administrators, the cleaning staff, everybody plays a part in getting them to the operating room. And obviously, the operating theater, those that have to take care of the patients afterwards, and so forth, their family members who are integral to making sure that these patients get to the hospital. So it's really a team sport, it's a communal thing, and so it's a testament to the hospital, division of the leadership to help us. We're always asking for stuff. But they're giving all the things, all the demands from all the ... There's a lot of challenges and we've been able to give people an opportunity to do well.

So why has there been a dramatic increase? I think over the past few years, the organ procurement organizations around the country have done a better job. There's still a lot to do, as you mentioned earlier. There's hundreds, the huge waiting list, a lot of people still need a kidney. But over the last few years, we've seen a dramatic improvement in the number of transplants that are being done all over the country, and so we've benefited from that sort of increase in the number of donors that are available, so I think that has played a role. We're a pretty good center as well.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Well, and I want to give a shout out to the fact that not only, your great success that you're having, you're doing that while maintaining the status as one of the fastest kidney transplant programs in the country. Nationally, median time patients spend in between getting on a wait list and receiving a transplant is nearly three years. And at UTMC, the average time is a little more than four months.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

That is correct. We're the fastest transplant center in the country, maybe in the world, actually, here at Toledo, and at University of Toledo Medical Center. So it's an amazing, amazing fit. And the other part is that we still are maintaining excellent outcomes. So when the patient walks into the door, when I talk to them, I say, "Hey, look. What we're trying to do here is for you to have an excellent outcome, not very good, excellent." And so that is required and that's what we try to maintain.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

We offer robotic kidney transplants. And it's newer, right? It's April of last year we started with that, of the region's first robotic assisted kidney transplant surgery. What does that mean?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Yeah. Well, so robotic assisted kidney transplantation is fairly ... Over the last, as we talked about, over the last 60 years or so, transplantation has been done in the same way for the most part, the technical doing the surgery, opening the patient, putting the kidney in, and connecting it to where it needs to be connected in the recipient, slowing is being adapted in certain centers. And yes, we're the first ones in this region, the only state institution that is doing it in Ohio. So in this region, I think there's only a few centers, and I'm proud to say that we are here offering robotic kidney transplant.

And what is it? Well, it's minimally invasive way of doing transplantation. The robot is a tool that we use to allow us to, through keyhole surgery, we are able to sort of transplant the kidney into the patient with very small incisions. And it allows for sort of quicker recover for the patient and less pain, as we've seen in the cases that we've done. And also, it also allows for us to be able to transplant certain patients, patients with larger BMI. Those patients are now able to potentially get a kidney transplant using this technique.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So you're saying because of your size, you may not have been able to.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Exactly. So with the patients with high BMI, there's the technical ... It's a little bit more technically challenging for those patients, and there's a higher risk of infection in those patients. So the robot allows us to do the procedure with a minimal incision and be able to visualize a little bit better and do the surgery more effectively.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So it makes the process safer and it's also a bit more inclusive.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Absolutely, absolutely. It definitely opens up an option for certain patients that typically will be excluded from transplant, potentially.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Well, Dr. Obi, I'm going to ask you several questions that we ask every single physician that walks in this door for us, so everyone answers the same thing. What have you been working on lately?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Very good. Well, depends on what the work is. Right? Yeah, so outside of my daily work, which is I teach residents and medical students, and obviously take care of patients, I do a lot of work internationally, trying to help places or locations where kidney transplant does not exist. We try to help them start programs. And so I've been working on transplantation in Antigua. Antigua's a small island in the Caribbean.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Been there.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

And so we do that. You've been to there? Yes, Antigua's a fantastic island, very good people there. We started a transplant program there in 2017. And that program is running strong and we've been able to complete about 11 kidney transplants with 100% success rate for three years there. So it's been a fantastic thing that we've been doing. We also have been working in Nigeria to help them start a program in a region of Nigeria. So that's some of the stuff that we've been working on.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

You've having an international impact, not just here.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

We are moving. We're getting Toledo to be recognized in different parts of the world.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So what is the most common question you get from patients? And what's your answer?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

The most common question I get from patients. Well, how long am I going to be in the hospital?

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Yeah, that's a good one too.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Especially for transplants. Okay, you're going to be in the hospital three days. And so that's typically because a lot of people don't like being in the hospital.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

No, you want to get out as quickly as possible.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

You want to get out as soon as possible, get me out of here.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

So just to recap before we leave you here, how can people sign up to donate or become a donor at UTMC?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

So to donate at UTMC, the number to call is 419-383-6715.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Okay. And is it the same if someone wants to maybe talk about seeing you possibly, as well, same number?

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Same number, yes.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

All right. Well, thank you, Dr. Obi, for this wonderful conversation, busting myths and misconceptions about organ donation. Who knows? Maybe this conversation here, somebody listening to it, it might change somebody's life if they're listening. I want to become a donor. So that's my goal here too.

Guest: Dr. Obi Ekwenna:

Absolutely. Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure having this conversation.

Host: Chrissy Billau:

Well, that's all for this episode of Prescribed Listening. Tune in next time and subscribe for more on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.