Astoria legislator to donate kidney

Published 8:00 am Thursday, September 19, 2019

Donating a kidney is something Rep. Tiffiny Mitchell, D-Astoria, has often thought about. The idea came to her as a teenager when she first checked that box on her driver’s license application making her an organ donor.

When Mitchell was in her 20s, a close friend developed kidney disease. She offered to give her kidney, but found she wasn’t a match. The anxiety and concern she experienced over her friend’s struggle with kidney disease stuck with her.

Fast forward to the 2018 election, when Mitchell won her seat representing Oregon’s north coast in the House. She knew the break between the 2019 and 2020 legislative sessions would provide ample time for her to recover from living-donor transplant surgery.

After meeting with advocates from Donate Life Northwest, Mitchell decided in April to offer herself as a living donor and went through the long process of being cleared for transplant surgery. She’ll undergo surgery in mid-October at a transplant center to remove her kidney, which will then be sent to Pennsylvania, where it will help a patient whose donor wasn’t a match. That donor’s kidney will then be sent to a patient in Minnesota who also had a donor, but was not a match.

“When people think about organ donation, they think of it in terms of something you do after you’re deceased,” she said. “I think most people don’t see it as something they can do while they’re still living, when in fact a living donation is better.”

The prime age range of an organ donor is between 25 and 60, but a variety of factors determine whether a person can donate, including overall health, organ function and blood type.

According to Oregon Health and Science University, about 19 living-donor transplants take place in the state each year. Currently 730 Oregonians are on the waiting list to receive a kidney.

During the 2019 session Mitchell encountered Portland-based nonprofit Donate Life Northwest and sponsored SB 796, a bill that makes it unlawful for insurers to discriminate against those who choose to become organ donors.

She ended up championing the bill in the House, carrying it to unanimous passage.

What could prove to be even more impactful is her outspoken support of Donate Life Northwest’s education efforts promoting living-donor transplants.

“If we can get more people to actually consider this as an option, that to me is important,” Mitchell said.

Reporter Sam Stites: sstites@pamplinmedia.com or 971-255-2480.