Organ/or other life-saving donations from children to teens or adults: possible?

[choie]

Okay first, a disclaimer. This is for a story I’m writing, so while it’s a morbid subject, it doesn’t involve anyone real. However, for pity’s sake please don’t continue reading if you yourself have experienced anything involving a child who’s died. I don’t want to be triggering anything just from my story research.

I’m having an irritatingly difficult time with my Google-fu, which is usually quite strong, especially considering this seems like an easy question. But since I’m not finding the answer, I turn to thee, SDMB.

Basic scenario: a kid, five or six years old, is on life support after being shot in the head (as a bystander in a shootout… long story!). No brain function, and the parents are going to let the child go. The healthy organs will be donated.

My question is: other than organ donations to kids, can anything be of use to a teenager? An adult?

Thing is, I’ve got some wounded teens and adults in this storyline, but no other kids. And I’d like to be able to combine some storylines by tying the deceased child to them, if at all possible. (This is an online fiction serial, part mystery, part soap opera. So melodrama is inevitable, though I try to keep things as down-to-earth as is possible in the heightened reality of my fictional world.)

Anyway, my research keeps only turning up info that adult organs can’t be given to kids. Going the other way, there seems to be less info. Frankly the research is depressing the hell out of me but I do want to be accurate and see if anything triggers a story idea.

So is there anything from this unfortunate [del]plot device[/del] child that can benefit the other, older characters? Or is everything just too darn small even for teenagers? There’s blood, I guess… Bone marrow? (Though I don’t see how bone marrow would be useful after a shoot-out…) Corneas? Anything?

Very grateful for any help anyone can provide. Heck, I’ll gladly name a doctor after whoever gives me the idea that ends up in the story. (I’ve done the same for legal questions when Dopers gave me assistance in that area!)

[Iggy]

IANAD but what I have googled indicates that body size of the recipient relative to the size of the donated organ is one criteria.

Cite:

Can organs be given to people of a different racial group or gender?
In most cases, race and gender are not factors. However, organ size (which can be affected by gender) is critical to match a donor heart, lung or liver with a recipient. Genetic makeup can be a factor when matching a kidney or pancreas donor and recipient because of the importance of tissue matching with these organs. Optimal tissue matching can happen within the same racial and genetic background. For example, an individual of Asian descent may be a better match to a donor that shares the same ethnicity than to someone of a different race. However, cross-racial donations can and do happen with great success when matches are available.

red is my doing

That makes intuitive sense for heart, lung, and liver as they need to be able to adequately handle the blood flowing through them. Not sure if this means donor organ size is less important for kidney, intestine, or pancreas donations.

[Der_Trihs]

What about donated skin?

[choie]

Thanks for the answers so far, guys.

@Iggy

IANAD but what I have googled indicates that body size of the recipient relative to the size of the donated organ is one criteria.

(snip)

That makes intuitive sense for heart, lung, and liver as they need to be able to adequately handle the blood flowing through them. Not sure if this means donor organ size is less important for kidney, intestine, or pancreas donations.

Mmm I figured as much for the major internal organs, drat. Ugh, why did all the other victims have to be older? Note to self: must injure more kids.*

@Der_Trihs

What about donated skin?

Hmm that’s a possibility, thanks! I wonder how to pull that off given these are either bullet or stab wounds. Usually I blow buildings up so burns would’ve been more likely in those scenarios; this time I went with weaponry.

A skin graft would probably require worse stab wounds than I was anticipating with this one character, but I could fudge things.

If anyone has any other thoughts please do keep 'em coming!

** Fictional! Fictional!*

[SpoilerVirgin]

Nicholas Green, aka “the most famous organ donor in the world” (he was the American boy killed in Italy whose parents donated his organs), was only 7 years old, but his liver went to a 19-year old woman. His heart and one kidney went to 14-year-olds; the other kidney went to an 11-year old. His corneas and pancreas were also donated, but the age of the recipients was not made public.

Not sure of the age of your teenagers, but the liver could certainly work for a teenager, and it looks like the heart and kidneys could go to young teens.

[Old_Eel]

Yes, my friend’s dad got an organ transplant from a child who was hit by a car.

[choie]

@SpoilerVirgin

Nicholas Green, aka “the most famous organ donor in the world” (he was the American boy killed in Italy whose parents donated his organs), was only 7 years old, but his liver went to a 19-year old woman. His heart and one kidney went to 14-year-olds; the other kidney went to an 11-year old. His corneas and pancreas were also donated, but the age of the recipients was not made public.

Not sure of the age of your teenagers, but the liver could certainly work for a teenager, and it looks like the heart and kidneys could go to young teens.

Ooh that’s extraordinarily helpful, SpoilerVirgin! I’m embarrassed to say I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this story. Having just read the news stories… wow. That’s heartbreakingly moving.

The liver might be ideal, too, as the teen I most want to be the recipient–he’s 18, BTW–was stabbed in the back. If that knife was long enough, it could reach the liver and do serious damage, right? Off to do some Googling on liver/stab wounds…

To any doctors/nurses out there who might read this: as an emergency case, he’d be put at the top of the donor list, right? I mean if he was in immediate need, and there happened to be a potential donor in the same hospital (what are the odds? Pretty good in a melodrama!) then would the hospital–after checking for compatibility I presume–make the teen a priority even if there are others on the donor list? I’d imagine so but I’ve been wrong before so just want to make sure…

On preview: Old Eel, do you happen to know what organ in particular it was?

Thanks!

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

Here’s a link that discusses the reasons for and process for getting a liver transplant. http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/livertransplant/

[Old_Eel]

Yes, it was a liver from a pre-adolescent girl to an adult male.

[choie]

Oh that’s excellent, thanks, IvoryTowerDenizen! Interesting that injury is absent among the reasons for liver transplants. I guess it’s not all that common. Still, neither are people with illnesses that mimic vampirism, and that was one of my earliest plots, so “common” isn’t a necessity for me!

I see that liver transplants can require several months of recovery. Even better! Now my originally college-bound teen character won’t have to leave the serial yet. Awesome.

Edited to add: Thanks to you too, Old Eel! Better and better. Man, I totally wasn’t expecting to be able to use an organ this major. Good old liver!

[outlierrn]

The renal artery and vein has a main branch into superior and inferior portions of the kidney, but a pair of pediatric kidneys can be attached to each of the branches on just one side of an adult.