18 kidney exchange donors, recipients meet at Connecticut hospital

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut -- Eighteen people connected by a special bond met for the very first time in Connecticut Thursday.

Each is either a kidney recipient or kidney donor who took part in what may be the largest kidney exchange ever.

It happened at Yale-New Haven Hospital, with nine recipients and nine donors meeting less than two months after their surgeries. It is part of a rare and unusual kidney exchange because it all took place within one hospital.

Approximately 100,000 people are on a waiting list for a kidney transplant, and kidney exchange systems increase the odds that a match can be found. And for all these donors and recipients, it is a match made in heaven.

Watch Diana Williams report in the video player above for more on this special reunion.

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