Episode 16: Is Living Organ Donation The Best Option? With Dr. Madison Cuffy

During episode 16 of This Thing Called Life podcast, host Andi Johnson speaks with Dr. Madison Cuffy, an Associate Professor of Surgery and the Kidney Director at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Cuffy has built trust-filled relationships with his patients throughout the years and loves nothing more than to see them live their lives to the fullest after getting their transplant. March is national kidney month!

 

Episode Highlights: 

• Dr. Cuffy started his medical journey back in 2002 during his residency, before doing a transplant fellowship at New York Presbyterian.
• Growing up in Brooklyn, Dr. Cuffy was first introduced to Cincinnati by Talib Kweli and Hi Tek.
• As a 14-year-old, Dr. Cuffy was volunteering in a hospital cleaning instruments.
• Even to this day, no one in Dr. Cuffy’s family has experience in medicine, nor any clue what a transplant surgeon does.
• Dr. Cuffy was born in the Caribbean and grew up with his great aunt in New York.
• One of the most common misconceptions surrounding organ donation is that the medical community will let you die.
• After being in transplant and seeing how one can help create life during a time of despair, Dr. Cuffy became an organ donor.
• The medical community is not out to harm organ donors for their organs, contrary to popular belief.
• COVID has disproportionately impacted the African American community, leading to a rise in a renewed mistrust of the medical community.
• It’s who passes on the information about medical issues like COVID that is important.
• Despite all the concerns and misinformation that has been passed along, Dr. Cuffy highly recommends getting the COVID vaccination.
• According to the statistics, on average, 22 people die every day waiting on an organ transplant.
• While most of his focus is on kidney transplants, Dr. Cuffy does work with all transplant organs.
• There is an access problem for people who need a kidney transplant and are on dialysis.
• Over the span of a year, Dr. Cuffy performs around 70 kidney transplants.
• During the pandemic in 2020, the transplant team was able to get recipients in and out with anyone contracting COVID.
• Dr. Cuffy facilitates living kidney donation as the best option to treat end-stage renal disease.
• Andi has noticed that people of color tend to shy away from sharing their donation needs with other people.
• Socioeconomic issues and disadvantages can make it more difficult for certain patients to share their stories.
• People who don’t want to share their stories need a donor champion to do it for them.
• There are different forms of literacy, so Dr. Cuffy makes sure his patients know that there is no stupid question.
• It’s important for patients to speak up about their questions to their doctor so that they don’t go get misinformation from another source.
• If your physician is too busy to answer your questions now or in the future, you may need to find a different provider.
• Dr. Cuffy feels rewarded by his job when he sees his patients experiencing life after their transplant.
• His grandmother’s advice to be who he is, even when things get tough, gets Dr. Cuffy through his hard days.
• Raised without his parents in Brooklyn, Dr. Cuffy knows first hand that you can do anything you set your mind to.
• Dr. Cuffy has always had an extra gear that has allowed him to outwork everyone around him.
• When he goes back to Brooklyn now, Dr. Cuffy gets a different kind of respect from the people he grew up with.
• Dr. Cuffy thoroughly enjoys going to J. Alexanders in Cincinnati because of the sheer amount of professional African Americans that go there.

3 Key Points:

1. While volunteering at a hospital with the hopes of staying off the streets as a 15-year-old boy, Dr. Cuffy had the opportunity to watch a kidney transplant up close, and that’s how he chose the transplant route.
2. Unlike in other cities that have multiple transplant programs with different surgeons, Cincinnati has a single transplant program where the doctors act as one unit.
3. Living donor kidneys last anywhere from 15 to 20 years, recipients don’t have to wait on a list to get one, and the quality is usually very good.

Resources Mentioned:

• LifeCenter  (website) (Facebook) (Instagram) (YouTube) (Twitter)
• Andi Johnson (website) (LinkedIn)
• Dr. Madison Cuffy (website)
• University of Cincinnati Kidney Transplant