Video: A transplant nurse on the rewards of living organ donation

Lisa King, R.N., Transplant Center: I've been in transplant for 25 years. Our living liver donor program started in 2000. One of the physicians came to me and asked me if I would be the nurse that would be interested in doing that. I suddenly got a passion for people who are well and want to do something for someone who's not well.

Because the organ shortage in this world is real. It's significant. Not everybody's going to receive a deceased organ offer, so the people who came forward for living donation were truly doing this out of the goodness of their heart for somebody that they cared about. I found a passion for being a donor nurse.

The reward and the experience that our donors see when they see that the actual recipient is well, that they're able to do things that they weren't able to do before. Then all of a sudden this person who was unwell is well. It's an incredible experience for them. I have seen people come back 10 years after donation and wanted me to be introduced to their children that they had after they were a donor.

I've had a donor and her dad run across the finish line at Grandma's Marathon. I've had a donor that sent me pictures of when she went to her destination wedding on the beach with her bikini on to show me her scar and her dad standing beside her with his matching scar. This is gratifying; that the recipients say, "You know what, I got to see my grandkids, I got to walk my daughter down the aisle." That I can't tell you... that just touches my heart beyond all words.

King has helped hundreds of patients and their families navigate the liver donation process.

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