Children's Hospital of Philadelphia declined to place three-year old Amelia on their waiting list for a kidney transplant because she has mental retardation (now called intellectual disability.) Without transplantation, Amelia is expected to live only for a number of months. Because I have a background on this topic, I have put together this post to disseminate information and support the petition for Amelia to be added to the transplant list.

In 2002 I was dying from an autoimmune disease and underwent a liver transplant. In that year a little more than 16,000 Americans underwent a liver transplantation and a year later about 92 percent of us were alive. Transplantation works, especially for livers and kidneys. It saved my life and it likely would save the life of Amelia.

At the time I was transplanted I was the head of a developmental disabilities center at The Ohio State University Medical Center. I started a program called "Lives Worth Saving." I recruited to the program Linda Jones, who was a former director of our local Organ Procurement Program. For a few years we spoke with many parents, doctors, and policy people about the issue.