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Kidney donation starts altruistic chain

by Tom Gallagher

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May 19, 2011

Earlier this week I posted a blog on the tragedy of the illicit human organ trade.

Perhaps a counterweight to that story is this story about a New Jersey woman who donated her kidney to a person whom she did not know and was in need of a kidney. This act of kindness caused at least two other donors to come forward and donate a kidney.

Melissa Arlio is an upbeat, healthy 26-year-old from a big Italian family in Wayne, NJ. She grew up playing sports and ran her first marathon in 2009. With nothing to gain and a good deal to lose (namely, her job) Arlio elected to undergo surgery and donate one of her kidneys to a complete stranger last March. She did so in order to start an altruistic kidney chain through the National Kidney Registry.