News & Press

The Donor Care Network has designated Loyola University Medical Center as a Center of Excellence. The Donor Care Network helps ensure living kidney donors are treated with the utmost courtesy and respect by implementing best practices and recognizing facilities that adhere to their guiding principles. The designation will help Loyola improve patient access to living kidney donor transplants through the National Kidney Registry.

Obesity poses a major obstacle to qualifying for a kidney transplant, particularly for minority communities disproportionately affected by obesity. Loyola Medicine’s advanced robotic surgery program makes it one of the few hospitals in the country to offer kidney transplantation to patients with obesity.

At age 72, Carol McCabe went into kidney failure. There was a 7-year waitlist for a deceased donor kidney and her life expectancy on dialysis was 3 1/2 years. Her husband, Jon, donated a kidney through Loyola Medicine’s Living Kidney Donor Program. “I’m pretty sure my kidneys will outlast both of us,” he said.

In recognition of Donate Life Month, Loyola University Medical Center will host its 32nd annual candle lighting ceremony in honor of organ and tissue donors, their families and countless health care team members.