Pioneering kidney transplant donor dies at 88

Juanita Smallwood Osborne, who became one of the first living organ donors when she gave a kidney to her ailing son in the mid-1960s, has died at 88.

Osborne died Thursday in Ashland, Ky., of complications from aspiration pneumonia, said her son, Burl Osborne, a former managing editor and chairman of The Associated Press and publisher emeritus of The Dallas Morning News.

Juanita Osborne donated her kidney in 1966, when most successful organ transplants had been performed primarily between identical twins, her son said. The risks of unsuccessful surgery were high, but he was in end-stage renal disease.

"I know that it was early enough that the odds were not high," Burl Osborne told The Dallas Morning News. "The greatest fear I had was that something would happen to her remaining kidney."

However, Juanita Osborne's kidney continued to function until her death, he said.

Besides Burl, she is survived by two sons, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Her husband of 47 years, Oliver, died in 1983.