Mary Ann Crossett will never forget that morning 50 years ago when she was about to receive a kidney from her sister.

London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) marked the anniversary of its first living donor transplant Wednesday with a reception at University Hospital, paying tribute to Crossett, 75, and her sister Margaret Reardon, 72.

“I was scared for Margaret,” Crossett said, seated in an auditorium before speeches from transplant program doctors and others who hailed the success of the work done at LHSC.

“She had two children and had never been in a hospital before, but she was so anxious to do it for me,” said Crossett. “I don’t know why. Love between sisters, I guess.”

LHSC’s multi-organ transplant program has performed 3,631 kidney transplants, 857 of them from living donors.

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