Woman donates kidney to twin sister in a rare transplant that doesn’t require anti-rejection drugs

By: CNN

Posted: Dec 2, 2024 6:22 AM CST

Courtesy Linda Thomas via CNN Newsource

By Maria Sole Campinoti

(CNN) — Identical twins Karen Rodman and Linda Thomas have been inseparable since birth: after all these years, they work together, Rodman as a legal assistant and Thomas as a paralegal, and they finish each other’s sentences.

Rodman and Thomas live in Las Vegas, less than five miles from each other, and have almost identical phone numbers.

“We’ve always had a very close relationship,” Rodman told CNN. “People always said we were like one coat of paint.”

As children, they had their tonsils removed on the same day, as they cried and worried for each other.

That anxiety appeared again recently when Thomas, 56, found she needed a kidney transplant.

“There wasn’t a conversation,” Thomas told CNN. “She raised her hand right away and she said, ‘she got one right here.’ That was the only conversation.”

The diagnosis

Thomas suffered from severe back pain for months before being diagnosed with multiple myeloma in October 2021, a rare blood cancer that affects plasma cells and can cause kidney failure, according to a news release from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Los Angeles hospital where the twins underwent surgery.

Thomas took an MRI to find the root of her back pain. That’s when doctors noticed “a serious mass,” she said.

At the time, Rodman noticed her twin sister was unwell, experiencing mental confusion. She took Thomas to the hospital.

“When we got to the emergency room, they told her the kidneys were completely failed,” Rodman said.

In the months that followed the diagnosis, Thomas underwent several medical procedures, including chemotherapy, neck surgery and a bone marrow transplant, the hospital said. The cancer also damaged a vertebra in her spine, requiring her to wear a neck brace for more than six months.

Although Thomas’s cancer is now in remission, her kidneys did not recover their normal function. A transplant became necessary to prevent her from depending on IV fluids or dialysis, according to the release.

“I had already been through a lot,” she told CNN.

Rodman immediately stepped forward, offering to donate one of her kidneys.

“I knew I couldn’t go on with my life with my sister not being able to have a better quality of life,” she said.

After several medical tests, the sisters found they were a match across all markers and were more than 99% identical, according to Cedars-Sinai. Due to these factors, doctors told Thomas she would not be required to take immunosuppressants, which reduce the body’s immune system and are typically used in organ transplants to prevent the recipient’s body from attacking the transplanted organ.

“Some twins don’t come back that high,” Thomas said.

“It is quite rare,” Rodman added.

A rare case

While the medical field is exploring methods to perform transplants without immunosuppressants, such cases remain extremely uncommon.

Most people who receive a kidney transplant take immunosuppressants for the rest of their life. Although the medicines can lead to side effects such as diabetes, high blood pressure digestive issues and higher risk of some cancers, skipping the medicines can lead to life-threatening episodes of rejection, according to the National Kidney Foundation.

“It’s a rare event to transplant a patient with a genetically identical organ because it requires having an identical twin,” said Irene Kim, director of the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center, where the twins underwent surgery.

This was only the second time Kim witnessed a transplant that did not require anti-rejection drugs, she said in the release.

Between 10-20% of patients undergoing a kidney transplant, even with anti-rejection drugs, will experience at least one rejection, according to the Columbia University Department of Surgery. Rejection can happen quickly or over years and it can be treated, but may also lead to kidney failure, which might require dialysis or another transplant.

A new life

The twins underwent a successful surgery in mid-October and Thomas’ kidney began working immediately, according to the hospital’s release.

“Living donor transplants are always an emotional event filled with stress and gratitude, but the bond Linda and Karen share as identical twin sisters is palpable,” Kim said in the release. “It was just such an honor from a transplant surgeon’s perspective to be part of that.”

Rodman and Thomas remained in California for several weeks so they could be close to the hospital for regular visits and could take walks on the beach to regain strength.

Now the twins are back in Las Vegas and are looking forward to their life ahead.

“I’m just so grateful to have been able to go through this with my sister,” Thomas said. “If it had been the other way around, it would have absolutely been the same.”

“We are so looking forward to 2025,” Rodman said. “We got a lot of things to do and life to live.”