This National Donate Life Month, Ascension Saint Thomas is celebrating the life changing impact of organ donation through the story of one Middle Tennessee family whose bond extends beyond blood and into lifesaving care.
On March 5, 2021, Dakota Davis received a living related kidney transplant from his brother, Kyle Davis, at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West. Today, both brothers are thriving and even competing together in Spartan races, demonstrating the life changing impact of living organ donation.
The Davis family’s connection to transplantation continues to grow. One year after Dakota’s transplant, their sister, Kayleigh Wakefield, joined the Ascension Saint Thomas transplant team and now serves as a waitlist coordinator, helping other patients navigate their own transplant journeys.
“Living donor kidneys, on average, last two times as long as deceased donor kidneys and reduce the waiting time in Tennessee from three to seven years down to weeks or months,” said Dr. Jacfranz Guiteau, a kidney transplant surgeon at Ascension Saint Thomas in Nashville. “More than 2,600 people in Tennessee are on the kidney transplant waiting list. Every transplant candidate who receives a kidney from a living donor shortens the waiting time for someone waiting for a deceased donor kidney.”
Unlike deceased organ donation, which occurs after a person passes away and has registered as an organ donor, living donation allows a healthy individual to donate one kidney while continuing to live a normal, healthy life. Because people can live with one kidney, living donation provides an opportunity to dramatically reduce wait times and improve outcomes for recipients. More than 100,000 people across the United States are currently waiting for an organ transplant, and kidneys remain the most needed organ.
Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West offers a comprehensive kidney transplant program designed to increase access to transplantation and improve patient outcomes. The program includes a dedicated living donor program, paired kidney exchanges through the National Kidney Registry, and preemptive transplants before dialysis becomes necessary.
The Ascension Saint Thomas Kidney Transplant Center also maintains a higher than average organ acceptance rate, helping reduce wait times and move patients off dialysis sooner. A multidisciplinary team including transplant surgeons, nephrologists, nurses, dietitians, social workers, and financial coordinators supports both donors and recipients throughout their entire journey.
In addition to kidney transplantation, Ascension Saint Thomas also offers advanced transplant services, including heart transplantation, with outcomes ranking among the top nationally for survival and time to transplant.
Ascension Saint Thomas encourages community members to learn more about organ donation, register as donors by going to National Kidney Registry, and consider becoming living donors to help address the ongoing need for lifesaving transplants.
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