The Ultimate Donation for the Best Reason Ever: Life

Fifteen years ago – I can hardly believe it – my friend Joe Noyes died from leukemia. The story of our friendship is a long and unlikely one. (The full story is HERE.) We had a few adventures together as we tried to spread awareness about bone marrow donation. If he had found a match, he’d likely still be alive today.

There was some good news about organ donations out of Australia this week. A man lived for 100 days with a titanium heart. It kept him alive until a donor heart became available. Many years ago, a childhood friend of mine was basically hidden in a hospital until a double-lung donor was found. There are time limits on how long a terminal patient can wait in a hospital bed. Doctors and nurses banded together to give that limit the middle finger. Because of that, my friend got to see his kids grow up. More than 250 Canadians die each year while waiting for an organ donor.

A Chance To Keep on Living

Some people expect perfection or they close their minds. Not all transplants work perfectly. Sometimes the body rejects the organ or tissue. Other times it’s fantastic at first and then later on, it fails. That’s what’s happened to CityNews reporter Cristina Howorun. She’s in her mid-40s now and has dealt with kidney disease her whole life. Five years ago she was the recipient of a living donor’s kidney – from her cousin, in fact. Despite following all of the rules for diet and medication, this kidney is failing and she needs another one. Her transplant team believes COVID-19 shortened the organ’s lifespan.

This is truly a matter of life and death. That’s nothing new for Howorun. She’s grateful that she’s been able to live like everyone else for the past five years. But now, she needs a donor. A living donor is preferable because that kidney has better odds of succeeding and lasting. She’s undergoing hemodialysis (a blood filtering process) five times a week. She has battled infections and other complications that go along with that.

Like my friend Joe, Cristina is raising organ donor awareness for everyone, not just herself. Healthy people can live just fine with one kidney. All of the information is available at kidney.ca.

Close, But Not Close Enough

Not long after Joe died, I got a call telling me I was a bone marrow match for someone. Did I want to proceed? Of course I said yes. Imagine the opportunity to save a life by giving away something you’ll easily make more of. I was so excited and couldn’t wait to get started.

Another call came a little more than a week later. They weren’t allowed to give specifics, but it was clear that the patient I matched with had died. It was too late. I felt sick. I’d been in the registry for years – why wasn’t I notified earlier? Well, there are many possible reasons including the patient not coming into the system until it was almost too late.

And that’s what happens often. By the time a major drive is underway to find a donor, the patient has been suffering a long time. They have to be healthy enough to undergo the surgery or they’re taken off the list. So, if you have any thoughts at all of getting tested or finding out more, please don’t put it off. Register to be an organ and tissue donor if something unforeseen happens. You could save eight lives. And if you have 0 blood type and are willing to part with a kidney, you could save one: Cristina’s.