OneLegacy Facilitates Family's Donation of Kidney to Natalie Cole

OneLegacy Facilitates Family's Donation of Kidney to Natalie Cole

LOS ANGELES, May 21 /PRNewswire/ -- OneLegacy, the non-profit, federally designated organ and tissue recovery organization serving the seven-county greater Los Angeles area as part of the national organ transplantation network, facilitated the transplant of a kidney to Natalie Cole via a directed donation from a deceased donor.

"As stewards of the organ donation process, OneLegacy collaborates with area hospitals to support families facing the loss of a loved one," said Tom Mone, OneLegacy CEO and Executive Vice President. "One such family generously agreed to donate organs to people in need of a life-saving transplant. Having heard of Ms. Cole's need for a kidney, the family asked that one of their loved one's kidneys be transplanted to Ms. Cole if they were a match."

In accordance with the family's request, OneLegacy donation coordinators then determined through tests that the kidney would be a biological match for Ms. Cole and coordinated the recovery process.

Directed donation is a specific request made by a donor or donor family to direct a recovered organ to a specific transplant recipient. While rare, this practice is recognized by the California Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) and occurs most frequently when the donor or donor family are related to the recipient or know the recipient personally.

OneLegacy is the non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ and tissue donation in the seven-county greater Los Angeles area. With 200 hospitals, 12 transplant centers and a diverse population of 19 million, OneLegacy is the largest of the 58 federally designated organ recovery agencies in the U.S, and in the world.

Those wishing to make the commitment to donate may register online at www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or its Spanish-language counterpart, www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org. For more information, call OneLegacy at (800) 786-4077 or visit www.onelegacy.org.

Source: OneLegacy

CONTACT: Bryan Stewart of OneLegacy, +1-213-229-5650,
bstewart@onelegacy.org; or Rivian Bell, rbell@jdipr.com, or Lisa Bernfeld,
both of JDI Communications, +1-213-612-4927, 24/7, 1-888-477-4319, for
OneLegacy

Web Site: http://www.onelegacy.org/

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