There is documented proof on this website that I’m not a fan of comic Mike MacDonald. Years ago, I sat stone-faced through his gala set at the Just For Laughs Festival gala in Montreal. He was never funny to me. But he has been dubbed Canada’s funniest comic by the adoring press and has thousands of fans. And my feelings about his act aside, the man needs help and fast.
MacDonald has Hep-C. He admits the recent diagnosis could have come about because of his addiction to every kind of drug imaginable years ago or it could have been caused by something else. But if he doesn’t get a new liver soon, he’s going to die.
The 56-year old has lost 67 pounds and after decades of living in the US he’s back in Canada because home is where the health care is. His wife is fixing up their Glendale, California home with their retirement savings so she can sell it and join him in Ottawa while he waits and hopes for a new liver. I know a lot about the liver now, having had my own shut down and nearly take me out during my sepsis ordeal in 2011. It can take up to 3-and-a-half years for a cadaver donor organ to become available. MacDonald doesn’t have that kind of time.
His friends suggested he put a note on Facebook about his search for a liver and he says he thought there might end up being a comment or two but it’s gone way beyond that. Donations are approaching $20-grand and the appeal is going viral. The money will sit in a bank account until it’s needed – he hopes – to fly someone to Ottawa for a live-donor transplant or whatever might come up with regard to making him well again.
Younger comics consider MacDonald the Mac-daddy of Canadian comedians. I may not find him funny but I sure don’t want him to die. There’s a liver out there for him and only awareness will help him find it. A person could donate a cutting from their liver and it would grow to full size in time. It’s an amazing organ. Believe me, I know. I would even consider giving a piece of my liver to someone if it was a matter of life or death, except that after what it’s been through, mine is tasked with just keeping me alive from now on. Hang in there Mike! Someone, somewhere is willing to help. We just have to reach them.