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By renewing our driver’s license at the DMV, most of us are aware of the process of registering to become an organ donor should the worst come to pass. But there is another group of organ donors — living donors — who are helping relatives, friends and even strangers by donating a kidney or part of their liver. Living donors who choose to give a kidney — the most commonly donated organ — can live a full life with the remaining kidney.

Every day for the next five years, 10,000 Baby Boomers will turn 65, and by 2030, 18 percent of the U.S. population will be age 65 or older according to the Pew Research Center. While old age certainly doesn’t begin at 65, it’s not unreasonable to think as we age, we may need help from loved ones. Millions of Americans already act as caregivers each year.

In a surgical suite at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a robotic arm snakes an ultra-thin, ultra-flexible tube through a patient’s airway. Once the tube reaches the lungs, the surgeon operating the device remotely uses a tiny camera to search the area for an abnormal growth, or nodule, that might be cancerous. Once located, a needle pierces the nodule for biopsy.