Top Story: A chain of 5 kidney donors and recipients are together for the first time

For the first time, a chain of 5 kidney donors and recipients were in the same room together. These chains have become possible due to the growing trend of kidney organ donations. Now, if you want to give a loved one a kidney but are not a match, you can still give an organ through paired exchange. In this exchange, you give an organ and your loved one receives a different one.

Dr. Raja Kandaswamy, professor of surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School, spoke to KARE 11 about kidney transplant pairing. "In the past, you had to go out and find a person who matches you. As long as they get a healthy donor volunteering to donate to them, that person can donate into what's called a kidney registry. And then the registry will find something back for the recipient that's appropriate." This helps recipients get better matches, especially with the larger pool of donors allowing for pairing.

"In the past, these were blood relations," said Dr. Karthik Ramanathan, assistant professor of surgery at the U of M Medical School. "This sort of gives it a whole new meaning to family. This is really done in the name of being able to help someone without really limiting your options and being able to help multiple people in ways that we weren't able to do before."

You can hear more from Drs. Kandaswamy and Ramanathan about kidney transplant pairing here.