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Community Corner

Our Lady of Lourdes Patient and Kidney Donor Honored by Camden County Freeholder

Camden County Freeholder Jeffrey L. Nash recently honored Our Lady of Lourdes patient Betty Gonzalez, of Camden, for being an organ donor. 

This past summer, when Betty’s husband, Orlando, 50, learned he needed a kidney transplant, Betty stepped up to donate. However, Betty and Orlando’s blood types did not match. So the staff at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center—the only organ transplant facility in South Jersey—entered them into a nationwide pool of other incompatible donors and recipients maintained by the National Kidney Registry.

On July 24, the Camden couple participated in a donor chain involving 20 people and 10 hospitals from coast to coast. Orlando received a new kidney from a donor in California, while Betty donated her organ to a patient at a hospital in central Pennsylvania. Lourdes transplant surgeons performed the surgeries for Betty and Orlando. 

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“I congratulate Betty Gonzalez not only for the courage she displayed by joining a nationwide pool of donors, but for calling attention to the National Kidney Registry and the impact organ donors can have in people’s lives,” said Camden County Freeholder Jeffrey L. Nash.  “Her noble actions set off a domino effect of transplants over a 48 hour time period across the country, touching numerous recipients and their loved ones.”

“I wasn’t compatible with Orlando, but my kidney went to someone who is in the same situation. It’s like two people winning.”

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About 4,500 people die each year waiting, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

“I encourage people to become organ donors,” says Betty.

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