Truckee, CA — 42-year-old Truckee man Jaime Igo admitted to The Fazzler that he regretted selling one of his kidneys on the black market overseas when he was 20.
“I was young, traveling abroad and teaching English in Guangzhou,” said a somewhat disappointed Mr. Igo on the steps of his Glenshire home, “but I needed the money and $16,000 seemed like a lot of money to me then. But it was a terrible mistake.”
Kidney transplantation or renal transplantation is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with the end-stage of renal disease. In China Organ transplantation has taken place since the 1960s, and is one of the largest organ transplant programs in the world, peaking at over 13,000 transplants a year in 2004. China is also involved in innovative transplant surgery such as face transplantation including bone. China is also infamous for extracting organs from prisoners.
“I mean, I’m not even sure where the money went,” continued Mr. Igo. “All I remember is being in excruciating pain following the surgery and thinking, ‘man, I’m gonna die in China.’ but I didn’t.”
According to the National Kidney Foundation, a single kidney can work as well as two and that a single kidney can compensate for a missing one rising 40% above if normal functioning capacity. Generally, people with single kidneys can live relatively normal lives.
“If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t do it,” said Mr. Igo. “But I try to watch what I eat and drink. Thank god there was no Facebook back then. All the dumb stuff I did as a kid was before the Internet.”
