Above and Beyond: Lyndhurst woman kidney donation sets off donation 'chain' across the country

Gianna Graw lost her father, William, a Jersey City police officer, to cancer in 2016. But she held on to the memory of how he was as a person that inspires her to this day.

"He was just so caring and compassionate, and that's how he and my mom raised my sister and I. He was willing to do anything to help anyone, even a stranger," Graw said. "That's what inspired me after he passed away."

That inspiration led the Lyndhurst resident to donate her kidney, setting off a chain of kidney transplants that went across the country.

The 24-year-old Montclair State University graduate student underwent surgery on Dec. 9 to remove one of her kidneys, which was given to a recipient in Los Angeles.

The chain continued when a kidney donor who was not compatible with that Los Angeles recipient instead donated a kidney that was transported to Tampa for someone in need.

After that, a kidney from an incompatible Tampa donor was flown back to Los Angeles to be transplanted. The final link was a kidney from an incompatible L.A. donor that was sent to San Francisco and transplanted into a needy recipient. 

"When I went into it, I thought it would be one person that I was donating to. I really didn't know much about chains," Graw said. "I was actually at the hospital with everyone, and that's when I found that I could do a chain.

"It's amazing. It's very overwhelming at first to know, because it's like 'Oh, my gosh,' you just don't anticipate that. I feel I did the right thing and helped more than one person. But also, because there were other donors involved ... I'm just happy that we were able to do it."

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Graw had first found out about kidney donations after her father's death during an undergraduate class at Stockton University.

A few years later, in January 2020, she discovered the plight of Jersey City Police Officer Anthony "Sonny" Silver, who was waiting for a kidney for more than a year. Graw contacted the hospital treating Silver to be a donor, only to find out he had one already.

However, Graw still went ahead. Hackensack University Medical Center's partnership with the National Kidney Registry, an organization that facilitates living-donor kidney transplants, made it possible for her to become what is known as a "non-specific" donor, or someone whose donation can go to someone she does not know.

"I was still happy and willing to go through the process. It didn't really matter to me who it went to. I just wanted it to go to someone regardless of the circumstances," Graw said.

After several months of tests to make sure she was healthy enough to donate, Graw underwent surgery in December for the kidney removal, which started around 3 a.m. for the kidney to be placed in a box to be picked up and flown to California by 11 a.m.

Dr. David Serur, the medical director of the kidney transplant program at Hackensack University Medical Center, said Graw will able to live a healthy life with the one kidney she has left. He then said that because of her donation, in case she is ever in need of a transplant, she received a voucher that would prioritize her for a living donor through the National Kidney Registry.

Serur also commended Graw and other "good Samaritan" or altruistic donors like her whose donations help strangers.

"They are true heroes; we really appreciate what they do," Serur said. "You can only donate a kidney once, but if you can make several transplants happen, isn't that something."

Ricardo Kaulessar is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com

Twitter: @ricardokaul