Contact Us

1-800-793-0471

REQUEST A QUOTE

Contact details:

Would you like more information about us?

Yes! No thank you.
Your message has been sent successfully. Close this notice.

REQUEST A QUOTE

Would you like more information about us?

Yes, Please. No Thank You.
Your Contact Form has been sent successfully. Close this notice.
2 years ago · by · 0 comments

Kidney Swap at Houston Methodist Hospital Bonds 10 People

A rare kind of reunion recently took place at Houston Methodist Hospital. Five strangers who received a donated kidney meet the five strangers who volunteered a kidney. They are linked in a life-saving kidney swap that involved 10 people and it has left them with a life-long bond. With all its complexities from matching antibodies to patient health, a kidney swap is where your loved one needs a kidney, but you’re not a match. So you donate to someone else in exchange for one that is a match.

The chain of the swap is similarly complex and intertwines them all by a sacrifice to save a loved one. Michael Wingard, 20, donated his kidney to 30-year-old Heather O’Neil. Because Michael is donating a kidney that will go to Heather, her twin sister, Staci, donates a kidney to a 47-year-old man named Javier Ramirez Ochoa while Lisa Jolivet, a 43-year-old mother of three, donates one that matches up with Michael’s friend, Kaelyn Connelly, so that Lisa’s 72-year-old mother, Barbara Moton, can receive a kidney from 67-year-old David McLellan, who donated so that his son Chris, who is 31, can receive a kidney from 33-year-old Tomas Martinez so that Javier Ramirez Ochoa can receive that kidney from Staci O’Neil, Heather’s twin sister.

A swap of this size is difficult to pull off and with all the complexities to be synchronized – matching antigens, patient health and COVID – this kidney swap had already been postponed three times since December. The extraordinary 10 person life chain took place over four days. All recipients in the swap are doing well and met for the first time, with the strangers that gave the gift of life.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, there are about 100,000 people in the U.S. on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network waiting list needing a kidney yet only about 20,000 transplants are performed each year. A patient on the waiting list typically waits an average of three to five years to receive a kidney. In 2020, about 5,000 people on the list died while waiting for a match. Matching kidneys, typically donated after death, never became available.

Living donor kidney donations greatly increase the number of organs available to those still waiting for a match. Kidney swaps are an option when a patient who needs a kidney transplant has a willing donor but they aren’t a good match due to incompatible blood types. The paired exchanges give a ray of hope to life in a dire situation and free up spots on a long waiting list.

Read more

3 years ago · by · 0 comments

Wisconsin Man Hopes To Raise Awareness For Living Organ Donation

Wisconsin man, Mark Scotch, is biking cross-country to raise awareness for living organ donation. He and his crew are making the 1,500-mile trip down to Louisiana to meet up with the man who inspired him to donate a kidney last year. They are starting with some 100+ mile days to get themselves south to warmer weather and spread the message of the importance of living organ donation.

Scotch, of Plover, Wisconsin met Hugh Smith at a brewery in Louisiana in early 2020 during a vacation. The two men struck up a conversation at Cane River Brewing Company in Natchitoches. Smith mentioned he needed a kidney transplant. “He said he was on dialysis and in stage five kidney failure. I just said hey, if you need one, I’ll give you one of mine. And one thing led to another, and here I am!” Scotch said. Scotch didn’t end up being a match for Smith but could donate a kidney in Smith’s honor, through the National Kidney Registry.

“So I went online, got registered. They found a match for my kidney, the best match for my kidney was in New York and that was last September 30,” Scotch said. That donation by Scotch bumped Smith to the front of the transplant waiting list and he was able to receive a new kidney from another donor in February 2021. Smith was a professional jockey for 17 years and battled with pain but didn’t know that the pain medicine he was taking would lead to kidney failure.

For a year, both men went through constant medical appointments to make sure they were okay after their surgeries. Then Scotch decided to show the world that even without a kidney, you can still live a full life. On April 24th, 2021, Scotch started The Organ Trail bike ride from Madison, WI to Natchitoches, LA. The ride ended at the same bar both men met in 2020. “This is absolutely amazing what he did, and he saved my life,” Smith says.

Scotch said “Hey if I can do it on one kidney, an old kinda fat guy, why can’t anybody consider it at least?” He said he hopes the trek generates interest so people learn more about living organ donation. He knows not everybody can be a living donor like he was but everybody can be an advocate and educate themselves. Then if the opportunity ever presents itself, maybe they can help somebody else with some good information or lead them somewhere to the National Kidney Registry or National Kidney Donation Organization.

Read more

Over 25 Years of Experience!

* State specific differences may apply to each insurance carrier or benefits provider, and each entity is responsible for their own contractual and financial obligations. Insurance products offered through HI4E.Org, Health & Life Solutions, LLC, and Health Insurance 4 Everyone, are not available to residents of New York or Oregon.

Get Social with us!

hi4e-800-number