( CNN ) -- Within just a few days , Ray Fearing went from the height of ecstasy -- he had just gotten a much-needed kidney transplant -- to the depths of depression , after finding out his transplant would need to be removed . `` I had been waiting for 10 years to finally have a normal life , '' said Fearing , a 27-year-old from Arlington Heights , Illinois . `` When it did n't work out , for a few days I just curled inward and started losing all hope . It was not an easy time . '' What is notable about Fearing 's case is not that he eventually got over his depression , or that he had an organ removed after transplantation -- those things happen . What is remarkable is the simple , altruistic gesture he made just before his doctors removed his kidney that led to what scientists are describing as a medical first . Fearing donated his transplanted kidney to another patient , and the organ that had been failing inside Fearing 's body thrived in the new recipient . `` When we removed that dysfunctioning kidney from Ray 's environment , it recovered rapidly after being transplanted in a second recipient , '' said Dr. Lorenzo Gallon , Fearing 's doctor and medical director of the kidney transplant program Northwestern Memorial Hospital . `` It is the first time that has happened . '' `` It 's amazing stuff , it really is , '' said Dr. Lynda Szczech , a nephrologist and president of the National Kidney Foundation . `` I do n't know if this is something we 're going to get into with great regularity , but the fact that these providers were able to think outside the box to save such a precious resource is frankly amazing . '' Fearing 's kidney transplant was in June 2011 , using an organ donated by his sister , Cera Fearing . He had been struggling for years with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis , a disease that causes scar tissue to develop in the part of the kidney that filters harmful substances . A few days after his operation , doctors took a biopsy of the new kidney and found it was quickly becoming damaged by the FSGS . The cascade of problems following the operation was swift . Fearing said that soon after his operation , `` My abdomen was full of blood and very sore and [ Dr . Gallon ] told me he had to remove the kidney immediately . '' Gallon said the situation , having to remove an organ to which so many hopes were now attached , haunted him . But when he realized the organ could still be viable in another patient , he decided to broach the idea with Fearing . `` I said the kidney is yours , we can do whatever you want , '' said Gallon , who consulted with his hospital 's ethics board before approaching Fearing . `` But if we take it out , we will discard it . Are you willing to allow us to see if this kidney might work for someone else ? '' Fearing did not hesitate . `` There are thousands of people waiting for organs , I could n't see myself just discarding one , '' said Fearing . The window of time in which to remove an organ that has been transplanted is narrow , said Dr. Matthew Cooper , director of the kidney transplant program at the University of Maryland Medical Center . Once a kidney is put into place , like any other transplant , it develops scar tissue around it . `` After a period of time , technically it is very difficult to remove it , '' said Cooper . `` It is equally difficult to think about transferring it to someone else . '' Cooper said he just had scenario similar to Fearing 's : A mother donated a kidney to her daughter , who suffers with FSGS . Ultimately , the kidney had to be removed . `` Hearing about this case , I 'm thinking 'Wow , what a cool idea , ' '' said Cooper . `` I do n't know why we did n't think of it . '' Of course , the procedure undertaken at Northwestern is not standard ; an organ with even marginal functionality would usually stay in the patient . `` In this case we 're not talking about a lack of perfect function , '' said Gallon . `` We 're talking about a kidney making Ray sicker than it would have been to keep the kidney in . '' But that kidney would ultimately make another patient , 67-year-old Erwin Gomez , better . Gomez 's kidneys were irreversibly damaged , he said , after 20 years of struggling with hypertension . Once he received the new kidney , whatever damage that had occurred while it was implanted in Fearing was reversed . `` The disease , if captured early enough , is reversible when you remove the organ from the original recipient , '' said Gallon . `` But another part of the story is that when a patient 's kidney failed , he had the strength to say 'Let 's help someone else . ' That gesture has more weight than words . '' The reality Fearing faces now is a long , difficult wait for another organ.For Gomez , receiving Fearing 's organ means he could go back to work as a cardiovascular surgeon , and he has more time with his grandchildren . `` I feel bad for him because his misfortune is my gain , '' said Gomez , who on Wednesday met Fearing and his sister , Cera . `` I 'm completely grateful to them for considering re-transplanting that kidney ... I owe them eternal gratitude . '' Fearing said that when he thinks about other people ( 91,836 and counting ) waiting for a kidney transplant possibly benefitting from what he went through , it stems the tide of sadness he sometimes feels about his situation . `` It was hell when I went through it , '' said Fearing . `` It is better that my situation helps people than having it take over my life . ''
Transplant surgeon Ray Fearing gives his failing transplanted kidney to another patient . For the first time a failing transplanted kidney has thrived in a new recipient , a doctor . It allows the new recipient to resume his work as a cardiovascular surgeon . ` ` It 's amazing stuff , it really is , '' says president of the National Kidney Foundation .