A Mother’s Gift of Life Reaches Record Milestone at UR Medicine Transplant Institute
University of Rochester Medical Center
New York
Since 1978, Raymond Vetuskey has lived with a kidney donated by his mother, making him the longest-surviving kidney transplant recipient in the history of University of Rochester Medicine Strong Memorial Hospital. When a virus severely damaged his kidneys as a teenager, dialysis was taking a toll on his health and a transplant became his only chance for survival. His mother, a near-perfect match, donated one of her kidneys, giving her then 16-year-old son a second chance at life.
Now in his mid-60s, Vetuskey is thriving with what physicians describe as a remarkably rare "100-year-old kidney" when the ages of both donor and organ are combined. While the average survival following a living-donor kidney transplant is typically 15 to 20 years, his transplant has continued functioning well after 48 years.
“It is a rare situation — definitely something we don’t see every day,” said Miklos Z. Molnar, M.D., director of Transplant Medical Services for URochester Medicine Transplant Institute, who credits the success to Vetuskey’s young age at transplantation, the strong familial match, advances in transplant medicine, and decades of careful monitoring.