On December 28, 2017, Martha Gershun read an article in The Chronicle about a woman who needed a kidney. Nine months later, she donated one of hers to Deb Porter Gill at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Gershun writes about that journey in a new book, “Kidney to Share,” that she co-authored with pediatrician and bioethicist Dr. John Lantos. Lantos is director of the Bioethics Center at Children’s Mercy Hospital. The book was just released by Cornell University Press.
In ”Kidney to Share,” Gershun tells the story of her decision to donate a kidney to a complete stranger. She takes readers through the complex vetting process that ensures donors are physically and psychologically fit to take the risk of a major operation.
Lantos, who Gershun got to know when they were in a chavurah together at Congregation Beth Torah, places her story in the larger context of the history of kidney transplantation and the ethical controversies that surround living donors. Together, they help readers understand the discoveries that made transplantation relatively safe and effective as well as the legal, ethical, and economic policies that make it feasible.
“Kidney to Share” is a remarkably fascinating work, a mix of personal narrative and medical history and ethics which brilliantly teases out the complexities of modern medicine at its most scientifically and ethically complex,” according to Perri Klass, Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University and Co-Director of NYU Florence. “The book, with its overlapping voices, contributing to a medically suspenseful organ transplant story, is at once intimate and educational, clear-eyed, heartfelt, and profoundly moving.”
Gershun and Lantos explore the steps involved in recovering and allocating organs. They analyze the differences that arise depending on whether the organ comes from a living donor or one who has died. They observe the expertise — and the shortcomings — of doctors, nurses, and other professionals and describe the burdens that we place on donors.
“We wanted to push readers to consider just how far society should go in using one person’s healthy body parts in order to save another person,” according to Lantos.
“Kidney to Share” provides an account of organ donation that is both personal and analytical. Gershun and Lantos pull back the curtain to offer readers a more transparent view of the fascinating world of organ donation.
More than two years after their transplant operations, both Gershun and Gill are healthy and well.
“Donating a kidney to Deb was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life,” Gershun said. “We hope this book will add to the body of knowledge about living organ donation, so more people have the information, inspiration, and support to participate in this medical miracle.”
Left Bank Books in St. Louis will host a virtual book release event for “Kidney to Share” at 5:30 p.m. on May 18 on their online platform (https://www.left-bank.com/event/martha-gershun-john-d-lantos-kidney-share). Gershun and Lantos will be joined by moderator Dr. Jeffrey P. Bishop, Tenet Endowed Chair in Bioethics at Saint Louis University.
The Kansas City Public Library will also host a virtual author event from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on May 26 moderated by Terry Rosell, Rosemary Flanigan Chair at the Center for Practical Bioethics. The RSVP link will be posted soon on the library website at https://kclibrary.org/signature-events.
Gershun will also participate in a panel on “Saving a Life: Judaism’s View of Organ Donation” with Dr. Ron Wolfson and Rabbi Elliot Dorff as part of B’Yachad Together: Spirited by American Jewish University (AJU) at 8 p.m. on June 1. Free registration for the event is available through the AJU website: https://bit.ly/3e57U7q
