Organ donation: The gift of a new lease on life

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/03/2025 (389 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’m at the age where, when my mom calls me during a workday, it could be one of two things: someone I don’t really know died, or a piece of mundane gossip about something not particularly important.

On Friday, Feb. 7, she called me. I was at my desk in a virtual meeting and sent it to voicemail, with a text that asked if I could call her back.

Her reply said, “Can I call you right now?”

I hastily exit the meeting and call her. She’s crying. I automatically assume the worst.

“Health Sciences Centre called, they have a kidney for me, it’s a match.”

For the past 18 years, my mom has been on dialysis. That has taken on a few forms.

First, the medical pole and bagged solution at home. Then, a more increased dose of dialysis solution and a machine that worked overnight. After that, the switch to hemodialysis, which required an apartment in Winnipeg and travel to St. Boniface Hospital three times a week.

Finally, when a new unit opened in Steinbach, a move back to rural Manitoba and commuting from St. Malo, again three times a week. Those three treatments a week meant planning lives around Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.

Time and again over the years, we were told that the odds of her getting a kidney transplant were not in our favour.

According to statistics published by Shared Health, more than 4,000 Canadians are on a waiting list for a kidney transplant. About 20 percent of those patients are highly sensitized, like my mom, meaning they have “exceptionally high antibody levels that will cause them to reject a kidney from most donors.” Shared Health notes these patients receive nearly less than one per cent of available organs.

After that call that Friday morning, we took her to the Health Sciences Centre.

She was quickly admitted, given a battery of tests, and told, with care but also with full transparency, the goal was to do the surgery the following day but that there was a good chance it might not happen due to the condition of the donor.

Saturday, as a family, we met the surgeon, and the nurses continued to give us updates as to the status of the kidney, enroute from another province.

We were told if this surgery was happening, it would be 6 p.m. At 4 p.m., with what felt like the speed and efficiency of a NASCAR pit crew, a team came into her room, got her bed, and off she went.

Shared Health has some other data that is fairly grim for those awaiting a transplant. On average, 250 Canadians die each year waiting for an organ transplant. Quite frankly, we resigned ourselves to the fact that at some point, that statistic would include my mom.

According to public opinion data, 90 percent of Canadians approve of organ and tissue donation, yet only 32 percent say they have registered that decision.

The good news is that, in Manitoba, the process of becoming an organ and tissue donor is incredibly easy, and no longer do you need to carry around that paper card with your driver’s license. By visiting signupforlife.ca, and registering with your Manitoba Health card number, your name, and your birthdate, you can pass along a gift that will outlast your time on this Earth.

Our family has been incredibly fortunate these past few days, and the past 18 years.

From the doctors, nurses, aides, and all the professionals we’ve interacted with in the health care system, we have been treated with care, honesty, and patience. Mom has made lifelong friends out of fellow patients and health care staff alike.

The surgery was a success, and in the days and weeks that have followed, she’s made steady progress, and things are getting closer and closer to what the new normal will be.

We are incredibly lucky that somebody decided to give the greatest gift we could have every hoped for, a new lease on life.

Long-term side effects may include more distracting phone calls.

Joey Dearborn is a communications professional, living in rural Manitoba.