ROSEVILLE-
Zully Broussard is recovering nicely after being the catalyst in a six-way kidney transplant procedure, in which patients were matched up with compatible donors who didn’t know each other.
Broussard’s unusual blood type allowed the Sutter Health Kidney transplant program to match six donor-recipient pairs who participated in transplants over two days.
Many donors want to help relatives or friends with a transplant, but incompatible blood types or genetics often doesn’t allow that. Broussard’s choice to donate one of her kidneys to someone she didn’t know allowed a chain reaction of mixing and matching resulting in the unusually large swap of kidneys.
Broussard decision is having widespread effects. The program is getting calls from other donors who want to donate kidneys to someone they don’t know, meaning there is the potential for more multiple swaps involving currently mismatched donors.