Eight days after being the donor and recipient of a kidney transplant at Vancouver General Hospital, Michael Teigen and Stephen Gillis appeared on CTV Morning Live on Wednesday.
Gillis, the recipient, and Teigen both are doing well and are walking billboards for the entire process.
The conversation — and this is really good stuff — is right here.
The Children’s Organ Transplant Society issued this release on Tuesday:
“We have been receiving a lovely number of messages asking about how to be tested as a living kidney donor for Zach Tremblay. Thank you to our community for spreading the word! However, as a charity we cannot provide confidential medical information about Zach’s history or present condition, as well as any other transplant children. Please know that we would love to direct you to the right place, but cannot answer questions about Zach’s personal health. If you would like to apply for living donation, please contact St. Paul’s Living Donor Program.”
So here’s the deal . . .
You don’t have to be a match to Zach if you are interested in helping him. If you aren’t a match, you are able to help him through the Living Donor Program. If you were deemed to be an eligible donor via that program, you would donate a kidney to someone else, quite likely a stranger, but on the condition that Zach got a kidney.
That is exactly how my wife, Dorothy, received a kidney more than six years ago. Her best friend donated a kidney through the Living Donor Program at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. That kidney went to a stranger, while Dorothy received a kidney from another stranger.
So remember . . . you don’t have to be a match in order to help Zach, a 16-year-old from Robson, B.C., who has been in Vancouver since early January. He has transitioned from peritoneal dialysis to hemp-dialysis, but won’t be going home until there is room for him in the dialysis unit at the hospital in Trail.
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If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:
Living Kidney Donor Program
St. Paul’s Hospital
6A Providence Building
1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6
Tel: 604-806-9027
Toll free: 1-877-922-9822
Fax: 604-806-9873
Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca
TAKING NOTE 