D.C. Councilman Marion Barry is scheduled to undergo a kidney transplant today at Howard University Hospital.
The 72-year-old Barry has diabetes and has been undergoing dialysis three times a week while awaiting confirmation of a matching donor kidney. That donor was found, in the form of one of Barry’s close family friends. NBC4 reported Thursday that the woman’s kidney “is almost a perfect match.”
The former D.C. mayor was admitted to the hospital Thursday. The six-hour surgery is planned to begin at 2:30 p.m., a hospital spokesman said.
“I think we all want him to have the best of health,” said Ward 1 D.C. Councilman Jim Graham.
There were 78,472 people on the kidney donor waiting list nationwide as of 2:29 p.m. Thursday, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. According to the Mayo Clinic, roughly 95 percent of people who receive a living-donor transplant are living after one year, and more than 80 percent after five years.
Barry says his declining health is to blame for his failure to file his 2007 federal and local tax returns on time. Prosecutors are now calling on a judge to put Barry in jail. The Ward 8 councilman is coming to the end of a three-year probationary sentence for failing to file his 1999-2004 returns.
Barry has not filed his tax returns on time in eight of the last nine years. He submitted his 2007 returns this week.
