When Las Vegan Ruby Norland decided to donate a kidney to her 29-year-old son, Ramiro Alvarado, she assumed determination and love would be enough. But after a series of evaluations at another transplant center, Ruby heard the word she feared most: No. “I cried out of anger and frustration,” she recalls. “I felt devastated and helpless.” Even though Ruby was a match, she was told her case was too complex. She had a small kidney stone and unusual anatomy. Instead of one artery, the right kidney had two, with the main artery branching very close to the aorta. Although her left kidney was not complex, Ruby was told the risks were too great to leave her with a single kidney that had a stone. That’s when Ruby was referred to the Mayo Clinic. Path forward to donation Ramiro had been on dialysis for eight months, three to four hours a day. For him, it was physically and emotionally challenging. “When my mom first offered to donate her kidney, I was stunned.…