'What do I need to do?'

Times Record News-Wichita| Ann Work

Dallas resident Pam Silvestri, who handles organ donations in Wichita Falls, believes there's one reason why God gave human beings two kidneys when they need only one: So they can give one away.

One year ago she complied by donating a kidney to a co-worker.

In the process, she learned many little-known facts about organ donation that surprised her, even though she had worked for 15 years with Southwest Transplant Alliance, the organ donation agency that serves Wichita Falls hospitals.

When she was hired by the Alliance in 1995, kidney donation was not easy — or popular — like it is today, she said.

But eventually she met so many people who donated their kidneys that it became commonplace to her.

"I saw it was no big deal. People did it all the time," she said.

Then one day a woman who worked part-time for the Alliance and who had become a close friend told her that she would be missing some work days because her daughter was ill, having not found a kidney, and that she, too, would soon need one.
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