Girl with extra kidneys wants to donate

Posted by David Pescovitz, February 18, 2008 1:57 PM | permalink

Laura Moon, 18, of Leeds, England, recently found out that she has an extra pair of kidneys. She's kindly offered to donate her extra pair. From The Guardian:

She only became aware of her unusual anatomy six months ago after undergoing an ultrasound scan to investigate stomach pains following a car crash.

'I realised that the doctor scanning me hadn't said anything for a long time. I thought he was going to give me bad news. But then he said: "You've got four kidneys." He measured them and I have two which are 14cm and two which are 9cm.'

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Discussion

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#1 posted by JoshuaZ , February 18, 2008 2:36 PM

Any idea how common this is? The article doesn't say and quick google search doesn't turn anything up. I would naively guess that there was maybe some sort of chimaerism here but given that it is only the kidneys that doesn't seem completely plausible. So maybe it is just random. Pretty cool regardless.

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#2 posted by ill lich , February 18, 2008 2:52 PM

If she just had an extra liver too she could win just about any drinking contest (well. . . unless her opponent also had extra kidneys and liver).

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#3 posted by btschimmi , February 18, 2008 2:57 PM

i had a kid in my class that had a third kidney, he even had a note from his doctor telling the teachers to allow him more than the usual bathroom trips...

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#4 posted by Decio

, February 18, 2008 3:34 PM

@joshuaz: my father told me about a boy with four kidneys sharing with me the same hospital room (I was 4 back then, after an emergency surgery to save my right kidney).

This is the 2nd case I hear about in 37 yrs (spent with both kidneys, thanks), but I am no nephrologist nor urologist whatsoever.

Besides, this boy was in a very healty condition, so having 4 kidneys may be a real improving mutation.

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#5 posted by UrinalPooper , February 18, 2008 4:56 PM

Well, we'd better set #4's hospital room-mate up with the girl in the article and get them to start breeding.

...or at least try to clone them.

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#6 posted by Kurt , February 18, 2008 5:02 PM

There were a pair of Bosnian brothers found to have 4 kidneys each a few years ago. http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=37296

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#7 posted by erindipity , February 18, 2008 5:18 PM

Kindly mutant :)