Outsources: Trans Folks and (Organ) Transplantation

Join Angela Palermo for a conversation with transgender man and kidney recipient Cameron Whitley and his wife Melanie Whitley.

I (Angela Palermo) am very pleased to be serving as a living kidney donor for Cam.  I first met Cam here in Boulder way back in 2002 or 2003, around the time he began his gender transition from female to male.  Cam later went on to graduate school in sociology at Michigan State University.  His wife Melanie is now a professor at the Rutgers University campus in Camden, New Jersey.  We talk about their experiences as queer folks at CU Boulder (where they studied as undergraduates), how they fared in the Michigan State health care system and what the organ transplantation process is like for a trans person (and for a spouse).

Cam and Mel also give some advice for prospective organ recipients, while I share my experiences as a prospective donor who also happens to be a post-operative trans woman.

More information about organ transplantation:

• University of Pennsylvania’s Transplant Institute
• National Living Donor Assistance Center
• American Transplant Foundation

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