The Queensland Kidney Transplant Service at Princess Alexandra Hospital performed the 1000th living donor kidney transplant in February.
The clinical milestone for the transplant team comes decades after kidney transplant commenced at the state’s home of kidney transplant in 1981 but for husband-and-wife team Brendan and Kim, the living donation was much closer to home.
Brendan’s journey with kidney failure started a few years ago, with progression to dialysis in mid-2025. Kim’s decision to undergo the process of matching took approximately eight months which she said wasn’t difficult but was certainly time consuming.
“There were a LOT of tests,” she said. “I work part time so I was able to manage the requirements around my schedule but the benefit to Brendan was immense considering the time consuming impact of dialysis on his life.
“A transplant offers so many more opportunities to travel and enjoy his retirement. Just the normality of life away from doctors, tests, machines, and the management of fluids and minerals in his diet will make such a difference,” Kim said.
The gift of life from Kim to Brendan occurred on 24 February with her kidney removed and transplanted into Brendan within hours on the same day.
Medical Director of the Queensland Kidney Transplant Service (QKTS) and Director of Metro South Kidney and Transplant Services, Professor David Johnson said the 1000th live kidney donor transplant was a testament to the increased opportunities and good outcomes for both the donor and recipient.
“Compared with deceased donor kidney transplantation, people who receive kidneys from live donors can avoid or significantly shorten their time on dialysis before receiving a transplant and they typically have better transplant outcomes with longer lasting kidneys,” he said.
“Live donors often experience substantial psychological and quality of life benefits from saving or improving their loved ones’ lives and generally have excellent long-term outcomes while living with one kidney.”
QKTS coordinator, Lisa Finch has worked within the life-giving team since 2010 and has seen hundreds of living donor transplants leading up to the milestone.
“A kidney transplant makes such difference for every patient who gets off dialysis three times a week to return to a semblance of normal life for themselves and their families,” Lisa said.
“We play an important role in guiding donors and recipients through the living donor process. If we can transplant someone prior to them needing dialysis the recipients are generally in better health and it can reduce the demand on dialysis services.”
Accepting their accidental acclaim in the 1000th living donor kidney transplant, Kim lauded the accomplishment of the hospital and encouraged more people to consider living donation to their loved ones based on her own experience.
“Giving anyone the opportunity to come off dialysis is such a gift – that said, he owes me a really good holiday now!”
Congratulations to the entire PA Hospital team for the success of kidney transplant in Queensland: Nephrologists, QKTS coordinators for both live and deceased donation, transplant surgeons, urologists, Ward 4BT and 4A staff, ARTS outpatients, post-transplant coordinators Dorcas and Lorraine, social workers, allied health teams and Tissue Typing laboratory staff.
PA Research Foundation donors have supported the work of the Queensland Kidney Transplant Service, the Queensland Kidney Trials Network and research by Professor David Johnson and his colleagues for several years.
Story courtesy of Metro South Health.
