A former University of Notre Dame president plans to donate a kidney to a woman Monday in a four-patient transplant procedure involving his nephew as a recipient.

The Rev. Edward A. Malloy, the school’s president from 1987 to 2005, had volunteered to donate a kidney to 41-year-old nephew Johnny Rorapaugh. Surgery had been set for Aug. 11 at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore before one of the doctors called about three weeks ago.

“He said, ‘Would you be willing to entertain a swap?’” the 67-year-old Malloy said.

It turned out that Malloy was a match for a woman closer to his age who also needed a kidney, and that the woman’s son, in his 30s, provided a better match for Rorapaugh.

“At first I was a bit taken aback, and so was my nephew. I mean, there is something special about giving a kidney to your own relative,” Malloy said. “In the end we said, ‘Sure.’ I mean, this is the right thing to do.”

Rorapaugh learned two years ago he has severe kidney dysfunction, and he has been on dialysis three times weekly ever since. No match was found among several of Rorapaugh’s immediate family members.

Malloy said he hopes publicity about the transplants will motivate others to donate, because “having gone through this process, I’ve learned just how desperate the demand is.”