![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/At-a-military-event-while-stationed-at-RAF-Lakenheath-.JPG.jpg\")
Eventually, she was diagnosed with a TBI, and with that clarity came a new mission. She returned to school, earning her second master\u2019s degree (she completed her first while on active duty), and is now pursuing her doctorate of social work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her focus: fighting for better care and awareness for veterans navigating invisible wounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For many, that journey would have been enough. But Gutierrez has never done anything halfway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2022, a conversation with a friend about organ donation sparked a new interest. A few months later, her boss handed her a copy of Military Times with an advertisement for Donor Outreach for Veterans, a nonprofit that connects veterans in need of kidney transplants with living donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI knew I had to act,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On May 25, 2022, she donated her left kidney altruistically to a fellow veteran. The experience was profound. But for Gutierrez, it didn\u2019t end there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Less than two years later, she underwent a second surgery, this time donating 40% of her liver to an anonymous recipient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m now one of only about 280 people in the United States \u2014 just 0.000084% of the population \u2014 who have become dual living organ donors,\u201d Gutierrez explained. \u201cIt\u2019s a statistic that reflects not just rarity, but the incredible potential each of us has to give life. I would love to see this number grow exponentially to where it\u2019s not a rarity, but the norm for people to become living donors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Living donation, she insists, is safer and more achievable than many realize. After each surgery, her body adapted and healed. Her remaining kidney grew to compensate for the loss of the other. Her liver regenerated within weeks. Today, she lives an active, healthy life with no limitations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March 2023, just ten months after her kidney donation, she climbed Tanzania\u2019s Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. Reaching the summit after about four days, including an eight-hour hike to the summit on the fifth day, she felt a deeper appreciation for what the human body can endure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat to me was a new challenge,\u201d Gutierrez said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know until I was finished that it\u2019s even harder for people who are missing those organs, because of the oxygen levels depleting with the higher elevation. The kidneys use a high amount of oxygen to function. But it was the most beautiful experience, seeing the curve of the earth and the sun rising.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is candid about the questions people ask her. What if you or your family ever needs a kidney? What if you get sick? To Gutierrez, those hypotheticals never outweighed the certainty that someone else would die without her help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe pain was temporary. For somebody else, it was a lifetime,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That clarity comes from her belief in service \u2014 a value that didn\u2019t end when she hung up her uniform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEverything I have done since leaving the military is an extension of that mindset,\u201d she said. \u201cI loved my time, and I wish I could have done more. Now I get to keep serving in other ways.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She has also become an advocate for organ donation awareness. Most Americans are unaware they can be living donors or understand how safe the process has become. She hopes her story will open the door to more conversations and ultimately save more lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAwareness saves lives,\u201d Gutierrez said. \u201cWhen people see a real-life example, it makes the idea real.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through Donor Outreach for Veterans, she learned veterans face additional hurdles when it comes to transplants. Chronic stress, toxic exposures and service-related injuries increase the risk of organ failure. At the same time, VA policies and limited access to transplant centers often result in long waits. That\u2019s why donating to a fellow veteran carried extra meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her advocacy doesn\u2019t stop at the hospital door. Now pursuing her doctorate, Gutierrez plans to focus her research on long-term care, education and support systems for living donors and veterans awaiting transplants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s not a system for long-term psychosocial follow-up care,\u201d she explained. \u201cI want to help change that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If there\u2019s a single thread running through all she\u2019s accomplished \u2014 from deployments to organ donation to academic research \u2014 it\u2019s the conviction that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. Whether saving lives through surgery or helping a fellow veteran navigate paperwork, she believes service is a lifelong commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don\u2019t have to give an organ,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can give your time, your resources, your kindness. But when you take that step to help someone, you change their story forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among all her milestones, she still calls her two donations the greatest honor of her life. And it all started with a magazine on her desk, the one issue of Military Times that carried an ad she believes was meant for her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI really fully believe this was a God thing,\u201d Gutierrez said. \u201cIt was pretty astronomical. Had it not been for that, I wouldn\u2019t be here today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Air Force veteran Lindsay Gutierrez is a two-time living organ donor after giving a kidney to a fellow veteran and part of her liver to another recipient.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":77264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-post-observation-post","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,25,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[4058],"class_list":["post-40039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"5NJ6AH5ADJAUHDLIW4QDBKYZM4","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2025\/07\/07\/a-new-challenge-air-force-vet-becomes-two-time-living-organ-donor\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"observation-post","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Mt.-Kiliminjaro-Climb-March-2023.jpg.jpg\")