Jamaican teen receives remote kidney transplant in US hospital first
Jamaica Observer • • health
Key Points:
- Arianna Crockett, an 18-year-old Jamaican-American teenager with Stage 5 kidney failure, received a living donor kidney transplant at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Florida, marking the first time the hospital performed a transplant with a remotely located living donor.
- The kidney was donated by Sara Goodall, the 40-year-old wife of Crockett’s cousin, who donated the organ from a different location in the United States and had it transported to South Florida for the surgery.
- Crockett, who had been on dialysis three times a week since January, expressed mixed emotions of nervousness and excitement before the transplant, while Goodall shared similar feelings and a desire to give Crockett a new lease on life.
- Diagnosed with kidney disease at age six, Crockett was raised in Jamaica before moving to South Florida three years ago, where she completed high school; her transplant journey had previously been highlighted by media appeals for a living donor.
