Action News Jax
by Alicia Tarancon

Shannon Stephens, a local father of three, is in need of a new kidney. Recently, he was placed on the waiting list for a transplant at Mayo Clinic. "Every time my phone rings, my heart is about to jump out of my chest, you know just waiting for that phone call," Stephens said. Stephens went into kidney failure in 2005. The 41-year-old has spent more than 10 years of his life on dialysis…Last year the Mayo Clinic performed 182 kidney transplants in Jacksonville.

Reach: ActionNewsJax is WAWS-TV/30, a Fox affiliate, and WTEV-TV/47 is a CBS affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida.

Additional coverage:WOKV-Radio

Context: A kidney transplant is a surgical procedure to place a healthy kidney from a living or deceased donor into a person whose kidneys no longer function properly.

The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs located on each side of the spine just below the rib cage. Each is about the size of a fist. Their main function is to filter and remove waste, minerals and fluid from the blood by producing urine. At Mayo Clinic, an integrated team of doctors trained in kidney disease (nephrologists), abdominal transplant surgery, infectious disease management and other specialties work together. Surgeons, doctors, transplant nurses, pharmacists, social workers and others work together to manage every aspect of your kidney transplant, from planning through post-surgical care. Mayo Clinic surgeons perform more than 700 kidney transplants a year, including for people with very challenging kidney conditions who need special solutions and surgeries. And Mayo Clinic kidney transplant teams in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota are leaders in living-donor kidney transplants. People who receive a kidney from a living donor usually have fewer complications than those who receive a kidney from a deceased donor.

Contact: Tia Ford

Tags: ActionNewsJax, kidney transplant, Mayo Clinic, Shannon Stephens, Uncategorized