An unsung hero of the human body is the kidney: these vital organs perform some pretty amazing tasks to keep our bodies functioning.

Urologist James Borden says that the kidneys cleanse the blood by removing waste and excess fluids, maintain a healthful balance of various body chemicals, and help regulate blood pressure. When the kidneys become diseased or damaged, they can lose their ability to perform these vital functions. "There are a lot of kidney problems that eventually require surgery."

Dr. Borden also says that a vareity of symptoms can occur if there's a problem with a kidney. Dr. Borden says one symptom in particular is a signal that you need to see your physician. "Blood in the urine though, is that if you do see that at anytime you need to see a physician for, find out what it is: an infection, a stone or something like a tumor or cancer. Anytime you see blood in the urine you need to contact your physician."

Director of Transplant Services Dave Mainous says that if left untreated, diseased kidneys may eventually stop functioning altogether, and that's when a kidney transplant becomes an option. "The medications that we use, the anti-rejection drugs all the immuno-suppression drugs that we use have become very, very sophisticated."

Today, compared to even 10 years ago, kidney transplant patients are experiencing greater successes than ever before, and greatly improving their quality of life. After they have a kidney transplant everything changes. They can eat anything they want to, you know, they're able to go to places that they can't before because of the dialysis restrictions, they're energy returns, they can do a whole lot of things.

The biggest hurdle remains having enough donors. In the state of Florida there 4000 people on the waiting list for kidneys.

If a kidney has to be removed, most people can successfully survive on just one kidney, and even in some cases, only part of a kidney is needed to perform vital kidney functions.