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Kidney transplant (via Facebook) went well for Cedar Rapids man
A kidney transplant Thursday that resulted from a Facebook request “went well for all involved,” said Dr. Alan Reed, chief of the University of Iowa Organ Transplant Center.
Nick Etten, 24, donated one of his kidneys to John Burge, 50, after Burge's son posted a request on his Facebook page, asking for a kidney donor for his dad.
Etten and Burge, both of Cedar Rapids, had not met before Etten responded to the request.
Burge suffers from polycystic kidney disease and faced dialysis in the coming weeks if a match and donor kidney weren't found. None of his family matched.
The Facebook page of Matthew Burge, 22, of Cedar Rapids still shows the post asking for a kidney donor for his father John Burge, 50, of Cedar Rapids and the response by his friend Nick Etten, 24, also of Cedar Rapids Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009. Etten is scheduled to donate a kidney John, who has a genetic disorder called polycystic kidney disease, today at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)
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