TAMPA, Fla. — A doctor gave the gift of life to an office manager by donating her kidney, and the women agreed to share their story in honor of National Donate Life Month.

  • Dr. Melanie Altizer, Marianne McGiffin co-workers in Fort Myers
  • Kidney transplant procedure performed at Tampa General Hospital
  • Currently more than 5,000 Floridians on National Organ Transplant Waiting List
  • More Good News stories

“I’m hoping by sharing our story that we can encourage more people, if they’re able to get tested, to become living donors,” said Dr. Melanie Altizer, an OB-GYN who practices in Fort Myers. “Also, to offer hope to people that are waiting on a kidney.”  

Marianne McGiffin said Altizer didn’t hesitate to offer her kidney when she learned her friend and co-worker desperately needed one.

“One day Melanie and I were at the same office and she’s like, ‘Are you ok? You just don’t look well today.’ And I said, ‘oh, just my kidney disease,” McGiffin said. “I told her I was O-positive and she said, ‘well, I’m O-positive. I’ll give you a kidney’ and it was like I’d asked her for a dollar.”

The women travelled to Tampa General Hospital six weeks ago to have the transplant surgery done. TGH is one of the busiest and most advanced organ transplant centers in the nation.

Dr. James Huang performed the surgery and said donating an organ does not shorten a life span.

“It’s a very thorough process,” he said. “In order to help someone, we want to make sure we don’t hurt someone to do that.”

Both women said they were surprised by how quickly they recovered from the surgery. McGiffin said she’ll be eternally grateful for Altizer’s gift.

“It has meant the difference between being sad and blue to being joyful,” she said. “Melanie gave me a second chance at life.”

There’s currently more than 5,000 Floridians on the national organ transplant waiting list.