In Sickness and in Health: UCSF Clinical Fellow Donates Kidney to Ailing Wife

UCSF - Daniel Ranch, MD, a pediatric nephrology fellow at UCSF, donated one of his kidneys to his wife of five years, Kana Kornsawad, MD, a research coordinator who, like Ranch, works in the Nephrology division of UCSF Department of Pediatrics.

As a pediatric nephrology fellow at UCSF, Daniel Ranch, MD, has witnessed time and again the transformative power of a donated kidney.

On April 28, he traded his lab coat for a hospital gown and gave one of his own kidneys to the person who already has his heart: his wife of five years, Kana Kornsawad, MD.

“I had always been an advocate for organ donation, and I knew the risks and benefits, so it was easy to make a decision very quickly,” said Ranch, 34, who had watched his wife’s health decline slowly but steadily since she first discovered blood in her urine in 2000.

“I was very tired a lot and I had a lot of muscle cramps,” said Kornsawad, 35, a research coordinator who, like Ranch, works in the Nephrology division of UCSF Department of Pediatrics. “By the end, I couldn’t even wake up in the morning.”

Kornsawad, whose kidney function had been weakening for years, had been warned that a transplant would eventually be necessary. But it was only when her kidneys reached a certain level of deterioration in mid-2008 that her doctors began performing the extensive medical tests that showed she and Ranch were a viable organ match.

“With the shortage of donors, it’s always good if you can find someone you know who’s a match,” Ranch said.

Nearly 80,000 people in the United States — including more than 16,000 in California alone — are currently on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Ranch, who had held off registering as an organ donor in order to “save” his kidney for his wife, said he “didn’t have to think twice” about going through with the procedure, even though it would be his first time in the hospital as a patient.

The couple, who first met in medical school in Thailand, was admitted to UCSF Medical Center on a Tuesday. Ranch was home by Thursday, with Kornsawad joining him the following day.

Full article here at UCSF