A 21-year-old man flew from Boston to Honolulu this month with one goal: giving his mother one of his kidneys. Ocean Silva plans to donate a kidney to his mother, Lisa Silva, who lives in Makaha, next week.
Ocean traveled from Boston specifically to donate the organ, according to Hawaii News Now, which reported on the mother-son journey. The outlet reports that Ocean wanted to spare his mother years of waiting on the donor list, a concern grounded in real numbers: patients on the kidney waitlist at The Queen's Medical Center wait an average of three years, compared with waits of up to a decade at some mainland transplant centers, according to The Queen's Health Systems. Queen's operates Hawaii's only dedicated organ transplant center, meaning state residents in need of a transplant either rely on that single facility or travel to the mainland, per Hawaii Public Radio.
Lisa Silva said Ocean battled a critical illness as a newborn, an experience that adds emotional context to his planned donation.
“The Least I Could Do”
“I feel like it's the least I could do,” Ocean said, per the station's report, explaining that he chose to donate because his mother gave him everything. He has also admitted to nerves ahead of what will be his first major surgery, the outlet notes. In the days before the operation, mother and son have been spending time together at the beach and sharing meals, according to the same account.
After the donation, Ocean will face lifelong restrictions, including avoiding heavy drinking and excessive sugary foods, and the station reports his recovery is expected to take roughly six to eight weeks.
Why Living Donors Matter in Hawaii
Ocean's gift arrives against a backdrop of heavy local demand. Kidney failure accounts for more than 93 percent of all patients listed on Hawaii's organ transplant waitlist, a burden that costs the state's healthcare system an estimated $10 million annually, according to Legacy of Life Hawaii. Nationally, living donors provided 6,419 of the 27,660 kidney transplants performed across the United States in 2024, per data cited by the Health Resources and Services Administration. That same registry data shows 143,982 adult candidates were listed on the national kidney waiting list in 2024, with 10.7 percent of them stuck on the list for five years or longer.
Living donation typically results in a much shorter wait, though paired exchange can take one month to two years, The Queen's Health Systems says. Most donation-related costs, including evaluation and surgery, are covered by recipient insurance or Medicare, though some costs are not.
Even so, those protections don't cover every expense tied to a cross-country donation. Non-medical costs like travel and lost wages still push families toward nonprofit fundraising, and family friends are raising money through Help Hope Live to help cover any uninsured transplant-related expenses the Silvas face.
A Broader Pattern Among Pacific Islanders
Ocean's decision also underscores the role living donation can play for families facing a transplant. For a family in Makaha, Ocean's planned donation offers a way to help his mother.
