Mebane, NC -- Roger Oakley was one of 93,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant but last week, he received a new kidney.

His kidneys were only functioning about 9% and he had to take two rounds of dialysis daily.

He was on the list but a co-worker, Mike Foster, heard his story and gave him one of his kidneys.

Before finding Foster, Oakley was on a 5 to 6 year wait list for a new kidney but proposal by the United Network of Organ Sharing may have extended his wait.

"100%, once I get this healing process over with, I shouldn't be restricted to doing anything," said Oakley. "No dialysis for the week!"

Before his transplant, Foster had to sleep hooked up to a dialysis machine every night.

"Sometimes you get a gut feeling to do something," said Mike Foster, organ donor.
Mike Foster's gut told him to give a kidney to roger.

"Something just told me to go through this and it was the right thing to do."

It was the life saving thing to do.

Roger knows without Mike, he'd still be on a waiting list at least five years long.

That means five more years of dialysis and five more years of failing health and maybe even longer if a proposal to give younger patients priority became a reality.

"If you've been on a list for 5 years and then you're getting older as you go, and then they're going to base it off your age, I don't think that's particularly right," explained Roger Oakley, transplant recipient.

"Someone stepping in saying that well, you know this person can have this kidney rather than this other person, I think they're taking too much control over something like that," explained Mike Foster, donor.

"I'd hate to think they're trying to take that little bit of life away from you," added Oakley.


Friday, the committee that oversees kidney transplants in the United States proposed a plan that may put younger recipients above older patients even if they have been on the list longer.

The committee wants to set aside the top 20 percent of kidneys received by dead donors for recipients expected to live the longest after receiving the transplant.

The proposal is open for public comment until December 14.

WFMY News 2