For patients in need of kidney transplants, living donors can make the difference between life and death, but more are needed.

Julie Sindell is a living donor. After reading about Nicholas Marone in the newspaper, she volunteered to be tested and eventually donated a kidney to him.

"He was 19 and he deserves a chance at life. He deserves a chance to get married, to have children and to have a home," Sindell said.

Parents of 3-year-old Kiley Hubbard have the same hopes for their daughter. Hubbard is on dialysis and has needed a kidney transplant since birth. They hope someone like Sindell will come forward to help them. However, people can? t become living donors until they are 18 years old.

Each year, about 6,000 Americans die while waiting for an organ transplant.