MUSC celebrates its first internal living donor kidney transplant chain

Barely 40 hours after major surgery, Christine Thompson slowly made her way over to the man in the wheelchair, all but ignoring her pain. Their hug lasted but a few seconds, but it spoke volumes. 

“I love you,” Christine told him, punctuating the silence. Her husband, Bruce, sat on the edge of his own hospital bed, wiping away tears.

“I love you, too,” Dareus Brown replied, his voice cracking with emotion. His wife, Renee, tenderly patted his shoulder, knowing that thanks to Christine’s sacrifice, this was the beginning of a life they would share together. It was a welcome relief after such a long journey — one that saw the couple marry on Oct. 1, unsure of what the future held for them. 

Just two days earlier, Dareus and Christine were complete strangers, but they shared something few ever will: a kidney. But as special as that was, they weren’t the only ones, because fortunately, there was also a miracle in store for Bruce, who had been on the kidney waiting list since February of 2017.

While Christine had originally hoped to give one of her two healthy kidneys to Bruce, the couple, also newlyweds, received disappointing news — she was not a match.

Thankfully, the story didn’t end there. Christine made a compassionate decision — one that ultimately would save Dareus — a man who certainly had had a rough time waiting for the gift of life.

“Initially, I wanted to donate a kidney to keep Bruce alive,” she said. “But I thought if I can’t help the man I love, still, there’s a person out there who might need it.”

After discovering a match had been found for Bruce, Christine decided to pay it forward.

“In a really strange way, it was almost better that I wasn’t a match for Bruce,” she said. “I knew by him getting help, I could help at least one other person.”

Luckily for Bruce, good Samaritan Mindy Runk always knew in her heart she wanted to help another person in a meaningful way. When she found out she was a match for Bruce, that wish came true. Not bound by family or friendship, Mindy selflessly gave one of her kidneys to a man she had never met. On the same day Mindy answered Bruce’s prayers, Christine donated her kidney to Dareus.

A first at MUSC

On Jan. 10, four people — two recipients and two donors — were wheeled back to surgery, creating the first-of-its-kind internal living-donor kidney transplant chain at MUSC, an act that saved two lives and created countless friendships.

 A kidney chain is an altruistic approach to living donor transplantation. When an anonymous donor comes forward to donate a kidney to a person he or she has have never met, it initiates a special chain of events — one where logistics require meticulous planning, said Satish N. Nadig, M.D., Ph.D., the transplant surgeon and living donor program director who oversaw the coordination of the kidney chain and performed Mindy and Christine’s laparoscopic kidney removals.

Nadig said the surgeries went wonderfully. In just a matter of days, the patients would feel well enough to be released and resume life.

But before that would happen, the patients were eager to meet each other. 

On Jan. 12, three couples — the Browns, Runks and Thompsons — met face to face in the Thompsons’ shared hospital room.

“Welcome to our home, our little apartment,” Christine said to the burgeoning group of patients, family members, friends and doctors congregating in their room.

After teary introductions and warm embraces, Dareus asked Mindy, who is credited with being the first donor, thereby kicking-off the donor chain, what made her become a kidney donor.

Before finally conceiving her daughter and son, Mindy and her husband, Ben, had a tough time trying to get pregnant. As a result, she thought she might want to help other couples by acting as a surrogate. But they decided that plan wasn’t a good fit for their family, she explained.

“I just thought I needed to do something to help someone. So we started thinking about living donation. My friend has a friend who has a daughter who needed a kidney,” Mindy said. “He was posting on Facebook about his little girl. I saw her, and she almost looked like my daughter. She was a sweet looking little girl.”

She was touched by how sad the situation was.

“She’d already had one transplant, and it had been very difficult for her. If it were me, and I had to basically beg strangers on Facebook to try to help my daughter — well, it broke my heart a little bit. I knew I had to go get tested for her.” 

But Mindy wasn’t a match for the little girl. So when a transplant coordinator asked if she would be willing to consider a good Samaritan donation, she agreed. Mindy is particularly knowledgeable about organ donation through her work with Sharing Hope SC, where she serves as the quality coordinator.

So when she was a match for Bruce and, subsequently, Christine a match for Dareus, it created an internal chain, meaning doctors did not have to go outside MUSC for recipients or donors, allowing them to control the external factors that affect their patients.

“You’re not at the mercy of timing or mercy of having the organs travel long distances,” Nadig said. “You can control all those variables, which makes it very fulfilling for the surgeon and ultimately, and most importantly, better for the patients.”

Ben shared with the group how he felt about Mindy’s plan.

“I have to admit, I thought she was crazy,” he said with a laugh.

“But a good crazy, right?” Mindy teased. 

“Not many people would do what she did," he said, pulling his wife closer. "Both of our families are very proud — she’s just so courageous. So, yes, it’s been a good crazy. If you have to be crazy — this is the best kind,” Ben said, as everyone in the room burst into laughter.

 Prabhakar Baliga, M.D., chairman of the Department of Surgery, and Vinayak Rohan, M.D., both of whom were also involved in the surgeries, were there for the introductions.