AUGUSTA, GA – When Gretchen Kingery of Pulaski, Ga., found out she
wasn't a match to donate a kidney to her husband Lee, she was
disappointed, but she didn't give up, according to Denise Parrish of MCGHealth.

Around the same time, thousands of miles across the country in Colorado, Lessa Ennis faced a similar situation. She wanted to give a kidney to her stepfather Jay
Weenig, but the two were incompatible, MCGHealth announced this week in a press release.

So the families took a bold new step to save their loved ones - they
traded donors. Lessa Ennis flew to Augusta and donated a kidney to Lee
Kingery at MCGHealth Medical Center, while at the same time, Gretchen
Kingery donated her kidney to Jay Weenig at University of Colorado
Hospital.

The late August surgeries marked the first paired organ transplant at
MCGHealth, according to the press release. The families were connected through the Alliance for Paired Donation.

"With more than 80,000 people listed on the national kidney
transplant waiting list and only about 10,000 anticipated donor kidneys
a year, there is always a need for more living donors. This new strategy
of connecting donors and recipients motivates more people to sign up as
donors, thus saving more lives," stated Dr. James Wynn, Medical Director
of the MCGHealth Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program, in the press release.

 For more information, please visit mcghealth.org.