John Casey, a friend from the Kamloops Kidney Support Group, continues to recover in Vancouver after having had a kidney transplant at Vancouver General Hospital on May 31.
John, who had been on dialysis for more than two years, had surgery three days after he and Marlene celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.
There were a few complications but nothing seems to have impacted the new kidney, which is just motoring right along.
Marlene and John, who live on Kamloops’ North Shore, like nothing more than to go for a walk at McArthur Island. Yes, John always takes his camera, as he has an unerring eye for wildlife photos. Just like the shot of the owlets that accompanies this piece.
Dorothy was speaking with John the other night and I had her send along a message, saying that I was disappointed that I hadn’t seen any photos of Vancouver wildlife from their temporary home.
Gotta love John’s sense of humour, because it wasn’t long before he posted the other photo that I put up here, the one with the crows in it.
The photo was accompanied by this bit of prose:
“Every night at about sundown a ‘murder’ of crows fly past our place heading east to somewhere I assume where they will roost for the night. There are about 50-60 of them and sometimes they are all close together and often spread out over five minutes. This is for Gregg — it’s the closest I can get to wildlife down here — except when we spend the night in VGH Emergency.”
Oh, how we miss the KKSG gatherings and John’s sense of humour. Hurry home!
If you happen to live in Kamloops, you may have seen Vic Morin driving around in his black Mazda CX-5 that carries a message in the rear window.
“I need a kidney . . . Blood Type B+,” the sign reads, adding two phone numbers: “250.573.3765 and 250.574.2547.”
If you’re wondering, Vic and his wife, Colleen Bruce, have heard from two Kamloops women, both of whom have volunteered to give up a kidney and both of whom have begun the testing process.
That doesn’t mean that it’s too late for anyone else to volunteer or to register as an organ donor. The testing process is thorough and takes time, and one or both of these women may not make it to the end. In other words, there’s always room for more potential donors for Vic.
And please remember that your blood type doesn’t have to be B+ in order to help Vic or anyone else you may know who is in need of a kidney. That is where the Living Kidney Donor Program comes in: if you aren’t B+ you could offer up a kidney, but only if Vic or any other specific recipient with whom you are familiar gets one.
That is how hospitals in which transplants are done, and the medical teams that do them, put together chains involving two, four, six or more donors and recipients.
As I have mentioned here previously, that is how my wife, Dorothy, received a kidney almost eight years ago. Her best friend, Darlene, donated a kidney but she wasn’t the same blood type as Dorothy. So Darlene’s kidney went to an anonymous recipient, but that happened only because Dorothy got a kidney from an anonymous donor. Because of privacy concerns, we don’t have any idea how many recipients and donors were involved in this chain, but it had to be at least four — Darlene, Dorothy and two others.
If you are interested in the Living Kidney Donor Program, there is more information further down on this post.
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
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Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney
Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre
Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street
Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182
kidneydonornurse@vch.ca
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Or, for more information, visit right here.
Want an easy win to feel great? Register to be an organ donor today. It will only #TakeTwoMinutes and you could save a life. Great deed and fuzzy feels without any hassle. #Register2Give taketwominutes.ca
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