It's called a never ending altruistic donor chain and the concept was developed by Garet Hill, who founded the National Kidney Registry after his own experience of finding a suitable match when his daughter needed a kidney transplant last year.

"Our prayers were answered but thousands face this problem, this exact same problem every year,” says Hill

It's based on a matching concept he borrowed from the business world. It relies on the pay it forward concept that everyone who gets, gives. And unlike a kidney swap, that helps a few people, this is a chain that keeps going.

"Not only were three transplants done on that day, initiated by the altruistic donor, but there's a donor left over that will continue another cluster of transplants in the near future,” says Nephrologist Dr. David Serur.

A remarkable achievement considering there are nearly 79,000 people on the waiting list for a kidney.

"Imagine a future where there is no such thing as an incompatible living donor,” says Hill.

Cindy Marshall, a former marine, was inspired to donate a kidney after her husband donated one of his to his brother 12 years ago. In October she added her name to the National Kidney Registry. She was matched to Ana Maria Berdeja from Hollis, Queens. In turn, Berdeja's husband donated one of his kidneys, which went to Long Island City resident Rubina Parvin. And Parvin's husband then donated his kidney to five year old Evan Hubbard who lives in Manhattan.
They were all present at NY Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center to meet each other six days after their surgeries.

"I didn't know what I was getting involved in, I just wanted to donate a kidney,” says Marshall.

Now Hubbard’s father will continue the chain by donating a kidney to an unknown patient and that donor's relative will donate a kidney to a sixth recipient and so on.

"We should be able to facilitate about 12 to 14 clusters a year if everything stays on track, so with this one chain, you can facilitate 30 to 50 transplants a year,” says Hill.

"Without their ability to look beyond themselves this wouldn't have been possible,” says Transplant Surgeon Dr. Sandip Kapur.