Las Vegas twins doing well after transplant surgery in LA

Identical twins from Las Vegas just got a lot closer in Los Angeles.

The 56-year-old sisters, Linda Thomas and Karen Rodman, were “feeling well and gratefully celebrating the holiday with their families,” after a kidney transplant from one twin to the other, according to the Los Angeles hospital where they had the procedure done in October.

Thomas was in need of a kidney transplant after being “diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer that affects plasma cells” and caused her to experience kidney failure, according to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s website. Luckily, the hospital said, identical twins are a perfect match, and Rodman stepped up to donate one of her kidneys.

“The pair underwent successful kidney donation and transplant procedures at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in mid-October,” according to a story posted by the hospital on its website.

“I’m just so grateful to have been able to go through this with my sister. If it had been the other way around, it would have absolutely been the same,” Thomas said in the story. “I would do anything for my sister.”

Cedars-Sinai said anti-rejection drugs were not needed because of the identical match.

The twin sisters are back home in Las Vegas and recovering from surgery well, according to the hospital.

Contact Arlette Yousif at ayousif@reviewjournal.com and follow @arletteyousif on Instagram.