Kauai man donates the first kidney to stranger at Queen’s Transplant Center
Kaneohe resident Anne Hussey received last week the gift she had been waiting for since her kidneys began to fail nearly four years ago — a healthy organ from a Kauai man she met for the first time Tuesday.
The 55-year-old mother was on dialysis for four years when Mike Bailey, a 60-year-old Lihue dentist, decided to donate one of his healthy organs to a complete stranger, an act he says came after much reflection and years of putting it off.
Queen’s Transplant Center performed on Nov. 4 its first so-called altruistic kidney transplant — a form of donation whereby a healthy living person is able to donate a kidney to someone they do not know.
“This type of donation is very rare and a truly selfless act,” Queen’s said in a press release.