Tag: @KidneyBCY

Christmas to remember for Dodds family . . . Julie’s coming home with new kidney this weekend . . . She had transplant on Oct. 28

Julie Dodds is coming home!

Julie, a mother of three young boys from Kamloops, underwent a kidney transplant at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver on Oct. 28. She was released from hospital four days later and has been staying in a hotel near the hospital, while returning for bloodwork and to meet with her transplant team.

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Julie Dodds will be leaving the wet weather of the West Coast for the sunshine of Kamloops on Sunday. Hey, after you have had a kidney transplant the sun always shines. (PHOTO: Julie Dodds)

She was told Thursday that she has been cleared to return home this weekend. So her husband, Allan, and the boys will be bringing her home on Sunday.

When she is back in Kamloops, she will be under the care of the fantastic renal team at Royal Inland Hospital that is headed up by Dr. Joslyn Conley and includes Dr. Kathryn Scobie and Dr. Vanbric Casilla.

Julie says she will “still have to do blood work twice a week” and will have “virtual appointments on Fridays” with the team at St. Paul’s Hospital. She also will return to St. Paul’s for appointments on Dec. 7.
“Obviously something could come up here or there and I’ll be back,” she said, “but I’m taking this good news for today and enjoying the idea of hugging my kids for the first time in three and a half weeks!!”

Julie was in Stage 4 kidney failure thanks to a genetic kidney disease called Medullary Kidney Disease Type 1. She was fortunate in that she was able to get a transplant before having to go on dialysis, and the donor was her younger brother, Jason Brauer, who is from Port McNeill, B.C. He was discharged from hospital one day after surgery. A transplant before dialysis is needed and involving a sibling is pretty much a best-case scenario when it comes to kidney transplants.

You can bet that this will be a Christmas to remember for the Dodds family of Kamloops.

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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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Dante Sebastian Andreatta was 12 years of age — he would have turned 13 in December — when he died on Nov. 11. Four days earlier, he had been caught in the crossfire of a shooting in North York, Ont. He was grocery shopping with his mother at the time. . . . An online fund-raising campaign shared with CTV News Toronto reads:“It’s with heavy hearts that we mourn a life that was taken too soon, but one that has not left in vain. Dante’s kindness and generosity will live on through nine lives that were saved because of his organ donation.” . . . Beth Macdonell of iheartradio.ca has more right here.

Thank, thank you, Rhonda . . . A toast to our newest kidney hero . . . Wheat Kings launch cardboard cutout promo . . . Blazers taking Teddy Bear Toss donations

Rhonda Dawes of Lethbridge, Alta., is another kidney hero. Yes, she is. . . . She is back at home in Lethbridge after donating a kidney through a live donor exchange program. . . . “I really wanted it done because 2020 has been such a crappy year,” Dawes told Dale Woodard of the Lethbridge Herald.“For me, I can’t imagine living in 2020 when you have an illness like kidney disease. I thought if I could get this donation done in 2020 that makes my 2020 amazing and someone else’s 2020 amazing.” . . . She had been wanting to donate a kidney since March 2017 but due to a number of things, including the pandemic, it wasn’t able to happen until recently. . . . This is a tremendous story and it’s all right here.

If you have watched MLB or NFL games over the last while, you will have BrandonWKregularnoticed the cardboard cutouts in the stands. Well, you now have the opportunity to have your own cutout in the stands at Brandon Wheat Kings’ home games. . . . The Wheat Kings have partnered with eBrandon.ca on “Fans In The Stands.’ From a news release: “For $50 (after tax), fans can upload a picture that will be made into a cardboard cutout of themselves, their child, their pet, a celebrity, a former Wheat Kings player — anybody they’d like to ‘attend’ home games this season at Westoba Place. . . . The WHL is hoping to open its regular season on Jan. 8. . . . The Wheat Kings’ news release is right here.

The Kamloops Blazers won’t play any WHL games between now and Christmas, Kamloops1but that won’t keep them from holding a virtual kind of Teddy Bear Toss. . . . From a news release: “While we won’t be able to physically toss the bears and other stuffed animals onto the ice, we can still ensure that children in the Pediatric Department at Royal Inland Hospital are comforted with a stuffed animal — by donating online at www.trellis.org/teddybeartoss2020. Donations will be accepted until midnight Dec. 15 and will be used to purchase much-needed teddy bears and other comfort items. . . . The complete release is right here.

When the 22-team Ontario Junior Hockey League begins play at some point in mid-January, games will be played without body contact. As well, among other things, the league said there won’t be any post-whistle scrums or altercations; players will wear bubbles and facial coverings; and benches will be disinfected after each period.

What do you do if teams from your minor hockey association are found to have violated the region’s pandemic response system? In the case of the minor hockey association in Minnedosa, Man., you shut things down for a week. . . . That’s what happened after a public health investigator reported that teams that travelled to play had too many people in their dressing rooms. In this particular region, dressing rooms are limited to 25 per cent capacity. The association received a formal legal warning and then cancelled all home and away games from Nov. 5-9. The association also was planning on meeting with parents in every age group “to re-educate and gain alignment on expectations on compliance” at home and on the road.

The junior B Kootenay International Junior Hockey League cancelled two CrestonValleyweekend games that were to have involved the Creston Valley Thunder Cats. Bradley Jones of myeastkootenaynow.com reported that “a team member was told to self-isolate due to contact with another individual who tested positive for COVID-19.” . . . Creston Valley was to have played at home to the Columbia Valley Rockies last night and against the host Fernie Ghostriders on Saturday. . . . Earlier, the Kimberley Dynamiters had a someone in their organization test positive, resulting in the cancellation of their final three exhibition games. Nine other members of the organization were to self-isolate. There aren’t believed to have been any other positive tests, so the self-isolation should end on Nov. 11. . . . Bill Rotheisler, a veteran junior coach in the west, is in his first season with Creston Valley after battling lymphatic cancer in his esophagus, so he is a high-risk individual.

Exit

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

680 CJOB Winnipeg: The ongoing surge of new COVID-19 cases continued in Manitoba Friday as health officials reported 243 new cases, five additional deaths and said further restrictions are coming to the province’s Southern Health region.

Vancouver Province: B.C. health officials announce 589 new cases, warn of ‘gathering storm clouds’

CBC News: B.C. sets new COVID_19 record for 2nd straight day as province announces 589 new cases and 2 more deaths

CBC News: Alberta reported 609 new COVID-cases today, 1 day after identifying a record 802 new cases. Currently 171 people are in hospital with the disease, 33 of them in ICU. 9 people have died over the last 2 days.

APTN News: Nunavut is no longer the only region of Canada with no cases of COVID-19. The territory announced the first confirmed positive test today in Sanikiluaq, a small community of nearly 900 people.

SaskNOW.com: Province records 87 new cases of COVID-19, mandatory mask policy begins today in Prince Albert.

KOMO News: Washington state records highest-ever daily number of COVID-19 cases.

Washington State COVID-19 Bot: Washington State COVID-19 numbers for Wednesday, November 04, 2020: 1070 new positive case(s) out of 21580 test(s) (5.0%); 49 new hospitalization(s); 15 new death(s).

Albany Democrat-Herald: Five Oregon counties must have a “social pause” for two weeks to fight a spike in COVID-19 infections that led to a record 805 new cases on Thursday and 770 on Friday.

NBC New York: The U.S. has reported at least 122,000 new COVID-19 cases in a single day, according to an NBC News tally — the third day in a row that cases surged past 100,000.

The Pac-12 didn’t even get its season started before it had to cancel two games that were scheduled for Saturday. . . . First, it had to dump the Washington-Cal game due to positive tests with the host Golden Bears. . . . On Friday, the Arizona-Utah game also went by the wayside due to positive tests among the Utes. . . .

The NFL fined the Las Vegas Raiders $500,000 and took away a sixth-round draft pick, and also fined head coach Jon Gruden $150,000. That ran the tab to $1,215,000 for the organization, Gruden and players for coronavirus-related violations. . . . Head coach Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers reportedly was fined $100,000 and the team hit for $250,000 for coaches improperly wearing facemasks on Sunday. . . .

Meanwhile, MLB didn’t discipline Justin Turner or the Los Angeles Dodgers for his embarrassing performance after the club’s World Series-clinching Game 6 victory. Turner had been taken out of the game in the eighth inning after MLB was told that he had tested positive. Turner, a 35-year-old who should have known better, later returned to the field to partake in the post-game festivities, sometimes wearing a mask and sometimes not. Sorry, MLB, you blew it after the game and you blew it again with your weak-kneed statement on Friday. . . . Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY has more on MLB’s love letter to Turner right here. . . .

Later Friday, Bob Nightengale and Josh Peter of USA TODAY reported:

“Five members of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and a family member have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

“The disclosure comes 10 days after Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner was notified during Game 6 of the World Series that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

“It is unclear if Turner or any other players are among the five people. According to a person with knowledge of the situation, most of the people who tested positive were outside the so-called bubble at the World Series in Arlington, Texas. The person requested anonymity because of privacy issues.”

The story is right here.

Tea

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

——

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.

JUST NOTES: Mike Lysyj has resigned after spending one season as an assistant coach with the Everett Silvertips. According to general manager Garry Davidson, Lysyj, 31, resigned to pursue new career opportunities. . . .  F Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats has played five games with the HV71 organization in Sweden. Bedard, 15, had a goal and an assist in one game with the U-18 team, and has two goals and two assists in four games with the U-20 side. . . . D Carson Lambos of the Winnipeg Ice is in Sweden with JYP. Lambos, 17, has two assists in three games with the U-20 club.

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Transplant association president just wants to give back . . . Qualicum First Nation chief waiting and hoping

Brenda Brown is the president of the Canadian Transplant Association. . . . Brown, who is from Vancouver, had a kidney transplant in July 2013. Five years after being diagnosed with kidney disease, she received a kidney through the Kidney Paired Donation program that is operated by Canadian Blood Services. That was after her 22-year-old daughter, who wasn’t a match for her, offered a kidney in order for them to enter the program together. . . . Now Brown, who has a full-time job with IBM, works tirelessly to give back. . . . Her story — and it’s quite a story — is right here.

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Michael Recalma is the chief of the Qualicum First Nation. He also needs a kidney transplant. In 2018, he thought he had the flu. It turned out that he had kidney failure and ended up on dialysis. He now is doing peritoneal dialysis at home while he waits for a transplant. . . . Mandy Moraes of the Parkville Qualicum Beach News has his story right here.

Zach16

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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Mike

It will be Halloween to remember for Dodds family . . . Wife/mother has date with transplant team . . . Younger brother will give her a kidney

I’m sure we all can use some good news. Right?

OK. Here you go . . .

The team at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver has scheduled Julie Dodds of Kamloops for a kidney transplant on Oct. 28.

Julie, a married mother of three, has a genetic kidney disease that has progressed to the point where she is in kidney failure, meaning the next necessary step is dialysis or transplant.

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Julie Dodds with her younger brother Jason, who will be giving her a life-saving kidney on Oct. 28. (Photo: Allan Dodds)

Fortunately for Julie, she will be having a transplant before going on dialysis, which is a best-case scenario.

Julie’s husband, Allan, said that “we were fortunate enough to have three amazing people matched for Julie.”

In what Allan said is “a storyline made for the movies,” Julie’s younger brother, Jason, who is from Port McNeill, B.C., has cleared the testing process and has been approved as the living donor.

According to Allan, Julie and Jason underwent COVID-19 testing on Tuesday and now are in pre-surgery quarantine.

Allan added: “We go to Vancouver week of Halloween. Surgery is booked for Oct 28.”

As Allan pointed out, it’s into the world of the unknown after that.

“How long at the hospital? How long recovery?” he noted. “Accommodations are booked for both and we are onto the next chapter.”

As for Julie, on Tuesday night she told me that “we’re excited . . . though a bit nervous and I’m sad to be away from the kids for so long but I know it’ll all work out!”

With luck, Julie will be back home in time for Christmas, with her boys serving her breakfast in bed.

It was on July 6, 2019, when Stevie Wonder told his audience during a show at Hyde Park in London that he needed a kidney transplant. There was a lot written about it at the time, but then the story faded away to nothing.

Until Tuesday when Wonder, who is releasing two new songs, held a virtual news conference. It turns out that he has been living with a transplanted kidney for more than 10 months.

“I was blessed with a new kidney and that happened on Dec. 6, 2019 . . . I feel great. My voice feels great,” Wonder said. “I told my daughter Aisha, ‘I’m going to be like five years younger than you now. I’m going from being 70 to being 40.’ I feel like I’m about 40 right now. I’m feeling great.”

The two songs — Where Is Our Love Song and Can’t Put It in the Hands of Fate — represent Wonder’s first new music in 15 years.

Cheryl Castellani of Hammonds Plains, N.S., first found out she had polycystic kidney disease (PKD) about 30 years ago. Earlier this year, her kidney function slid to 11 per cent, so it was time for — hopefully — a transplant. Fortunately, her younger sister, Heather Blouin, was a match and the transplant occurred on July 23 in Halifax. . . . After the surgery, who is from Grand River, P.E.I., and Castellani went their separate ways. . . . They had a rather joyous reunion on Thanksgiving weekend. . . . Sheehan Desjardins of CBC has more right here.

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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Exerce while doing hemodialysis? Yes, it’s possible . . . Some Alberta patients cycled to the moon and back

How can one exercise while doing hemodialysis?

Not only is it possible, but it has become a routine part of treatment in some dialysis units through the installation of pedal exercisers.

In fact, there are patients who have taken on the challenge of pedalling to the moon and back.

Paul Brown, a graduate of the Master of Kinesiology program at the U of Calgary, led a 2017 study on the benefit of exercise while doing dialysis. Specifically, the study looked at what level of intensity was needed for the exercise to be beneficial.

Remember that kidney disease is chronic and brings with it such things as horrible fatigue and nausea. Hemodialysis uses a machine removed toxins from the body, a process that normally is done by the kidneys.

Brown’s study, according to a story from Dec. 15, 2017 on the U of Calgary website, “showed that exercise at even a lower intensity imparted a benefit.”

“The study required each subject to complete three differing protocols — one dialysis treatment with no exercise, one with lower-intensity exercise, and one with higher-intensity exercise,” the story continued. “While exercise made the dialysis procedure more efficient, Brown found no difference between lower- and higher-intensity exercises in terms of dialysis efficiency.

“Brown says research shows that patients who exercise during dialysis also have improved aerobic capacity, leg muscle strength and quality of life, and they have lower markers for inflammation and make fewer visits to the hospital.”

(That story is right here.)

Alberta Kidney Care has taken it one step further with a series of renal fitness challenges.

In 2019, 12 teams of patients and staff “combined their exercise and activity distances in a virtual trip across the province,” according to Alberta Health Services. On a 6,600-kilometre virtual tour, they visited 10 popular tourism stops, checked in with 24 different cities with hemodialysis units.

One year earlier, the challenge was called No Limits: Mission to the Moon 2018. Participants began the 384,000 km trip on June 19, 2018, and wrapped it up on Aug. 31.

“Access to living donor kidney transplant — a life-saving treatment for patients with kidney failure — is dramatically reduced among racialized groups in Canada, with studies reporting up to 70 per cent lower likelihood of living donor transplantation in South Asian, Black, African and Caribbean populations,” reports the United Health Network (UHN).

“A.C.T.I.O.N., a joint project led by UHN’s Centre for Living Organ Donation and Providence Healthcare in British Columbia, is taking a new approach to identify and reduce barriers to access to living donor kidney transplantation among these groups.”

The piece from UHN goes on: “Barriers such as language, cultural differences, trust and representation have an impact in how healthcare is delivered, and that is particularly true with complex specialized treatment such as organ transplantation.

“Access to living donor kidney transplant . . . is dramatically reduced among racialized groups in Canada, with studies reporting up to 70 per cent lower likelihood of living donor transplantation in South Asian, Black, African and Caribbean populations.”

The complete story is right here.

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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

The big coverup: Wear a mask! . . . White Sox’ fan comes to the rescue . . . Robot removes two kidneys, inserts one

Zach16

Bridgett Kolls is a fan of the Chicago Cubs. Kolls, 23, also needed a new kidney.

Thomas Alessio, 32, is a fan of the Chicago White Sox, so you wouldn’t think that this would be a match made in transplant heaven. Right.

Well, you would be wrong.

In May 2019, Kolls went to a Cubs game and took along a poster on which was printed “This li’l Cubs fan needs a kidney” and a phone number.

The Cubs’ social media team took her photo and put it on Twitter, which is where Alessio saw it.

The rest, as they say, is transplant history.

Genevieve Bookwalter of the Chicago Tribune has the complete story right here. It’s a great read, especially if you are in need of a transplant or are thinking of being a live donor.

Vic2

There have been a couple of really interesting developments of late in the world of kidney transplants. . . . Surgeons at the University of Illinois Hospital-Chicago have performed what a news release describes as “the world’s first robotic-assisted double-kidney removal followed immediately by a living-donor kidney transplant in a patient with severe polycystic kidney disease.” The surgery was performed on Christopher Adamsick, 50, of Yorkville, Ill., who had both of his diseased kidneys removed and a donor kidney transplanted. . . . Dr. Pier Giulianotti, the lead surgeon, called it “a first-of-its-kind procedure that normally requires open, invasive surgery and a very large incision.” . . . That story is right here.

Meanwhile, in the Nevada desert, two September drone flights successfully delivered human organs for transplant. . . . Yahoo News reports that “one of the flights was the longest organ delivery flight on an unmanned aircraft ever.” . . . One drone flight delivered corneas, with the other moving a kidney. . . . If you are interested in how this all was put together and how the flights went, there are photos and more right here.

juliescreengrab

Mike

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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Boulet Effect changed her life . . . Will QMJHL ban fighting for $20 million? . . . Will WHL be impacted by B.C. election?

As you may have read, the QMJHL has asked the Quebec government for a $20-qmjhlnewmillion subsidy to help the 12 teams that are based in the province through the pandemic. Ken Campbell of The Hockey News wonders whether the government may be able to convince the league to further reduce fighting in exchange for the dough. . . .  Campbell writes: “Like all its other provincial counterparts, the Government of Quebec is more than willing to help junior hockey operators line their pockets. Early in 2020, it was persuaded by the QMJHL to change its own employment standards laws to classify players as ‘student athletes’ rather than employees. That alone represents savings in the millions of dollars. You’d think in the middle of a global pandemic, a government would have better things to do with $20 million than help prop up for-profit enterprises — granted, some teams are community owned — that exploit teenagers, but hey, it ain’t my money.” . . . Campbell’s complete column is right here.

Yahtzee

The Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League, a nine-team junior B circuit, is planning to open its regular season on Oct. 1. According to a release from the league it will happen “subject to gaining final approvals.” . . . Earlier in the summer, the league had said it planned to begin on Sept. 21 or 28. . . . The teams, all of them based in Vancouver Island communities, will be split into three cohorts. They will play in those cohorts “to reduce the need for travel and to mitigate the extra risk of infection.” . . . According to the league, “Players leaving or entering a cohort are mandate to self-isolate for a minimum of 14 days as per Public Health guidelines.” . . . As for fans, the league said there will be “a limited number, and possibly NO spectators, allowed in some of the VIJHL’s arenas . . .” . . . A complete news release is right here.

F Connor Bedard, who is expected to play for the WHL’s Regina Pats in 2020-21 as a 15-year-old, will spend the next while practising in Sweden with HV71’s U-18 side. . . . But what if Bedard didn’t belong to the Pats? What if he was part of the HV71 program? Szymon Szemberg of eurohockeyclubs.com takes a look right here at the development process in that country.

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, one of the world’s most recognizable soccer players, has tested positive. Ibrahimovic, who plays for AC Milan, said via Twitter that he had tested negative one day and positive the next. . . . Ibrahimovic, 38, is in quarantine at home, so he didn’t play in host Milan’s 3-2 Europa League qualifier victory over Norway’s Bodo/Glimt on Thursday. . . .

The issues continue in the KHL where championat.com, a Russian sports site, reported that more than half the players and the entire coaching staff of SKA St. Petersburg tested positive. . . . In Wednesday’s game against visiting Sibir Novosibirsk, the bench was run by Roman Rotenberg, the team’s part-owner, vice-president and general manager, along with Daniel Bochner of Canada, the player development coach who last worked a bench in 2016 with the U-16 Don Mills, Ont., Flyers. . . . BTW, SKA dropped that game, 4-1. Of the 22 players it dressed, six were from its farm club and 10 from its junior team. . . .

Football’s Pac-12 Conference has reversed an earlier decision and its football teams will play this fall. Last month, the conference had announced that there wouldn’t be football in 2021. On Thursday, it said that it hopes to start up on Nov. 6, with teams playing seven-game schedules culminating with a championship game on Dec. 18. . . . This means that all five Power 5 conferences will be playing football this fall. . . As Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle writes right here: “The Power 5 conferences like to use the phrase ‘student-athlete.’ Maybe ‘lab rat’ is more appropriate.” . . .

The Mountain West Conference also has decided that it will have a football season this fall. Its board of directors voted to start an eight-game schedule on Oct. 24, “subject to approval from state, county and local officials,” according to the Fresno Bee. . . .

The Welland Jr. Canadians of the junior A Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League have taken a leave of absence for 2020-21. “Public health officials continue to advise that social distancing is the most effective strategy to prevent the spread of the virus,” the team said in a news release. “Ensuring the health and safety of our community, players, employees and volunteers is always our first priority. As a result, to do our part and help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Jr. Canadians have made the difficult decision” not to play in 2020-21. . . .

There won’t be any high school football games between opposing schools in Regina this fall. There also won’t be any cross-country, soccer or volleyball. . . . In making the announcement, the Regina High Schools Athletic Association said that “schools will have the option within their school only to co-ordinate and organize extra-curricular athletics, practices or intramurals.” . . .

The Twin City Thunder of the U.S. Premier Hockey League’s National Collegiate Development Conference have had to put their season on hold after some players tested positive. The Thunder, which plays out of Auburn, Maine, was to have played Thursday and Friday nights. . . . Mark Divver, a New England-based hockey writer, tweeted on Wednesday that he had heard “of players on a couple of NCDC teams testing positive.” . . . Nathan Fournier of the Lewiston Sun Journal has more right here.

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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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

Wifi

The province of B.C. is embroiled in an election campaign that will end with voting on Oct. 24. Bruce Hamilton, the president and general manager of the Kelowna Rockets and the chairman of the WHL’s board of governors, wonders if it will have an impact on his league. He told Travis Lowe of Global News that “we’ve got a return-to-play protocol that has been worked on all summer. That’s in the hands of all the governments in the west now.” But he wonders how much attention it will get in B.C. because of the election campaign. “This election . . . we are certainly not an item that would be on one of the burners right now.” . . . That story is right here.

Chris Clark has been named head coach of the BCHL’s Wenatchee Wild. He stepped in as interim head coach in December, taking over from Bliss Littler, who stepped aside citing health concerns. Littler remains the team’s general manager. . . . Clark, also the assistant GM, has been on the Wild’s coaching staff since the franchise’s inceptions in 2008. . . . The full news release is right here.

Friends

Kamloops mom hoping transplant is near . . . Donor search for Ferris continues . . . Early stages of CKD? There’s a webinar for you on Sept. 24

Just over a year ago, Julie Dodds of Kamloops turned to Facebook in an attempt to find a living kidney donor. She has Medullary Kidney Disease Type 1, a genetic condition, and had reached Stage 4. . . . The next step is kidney failure and dialysis, and she almost is there these days. . . . This week, Chad Klassen of CFJC-TV in Kamloops updated Julie’s story and, fingers crossed, the married mother of three boys may be getting close to a transplant. . . . It’s also the story of friends, and friends of friends, responding to a call for help. . . . That story is right here.

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Meanwhile, the search for a kidney donor for Ferris Backmeyer, a three-year-old from Kamloops, will continue after Kim DeRose, who spent six months in the testing process, was ruled out. . . . According to her friend Melissa Robinson, who wrote with DeRose’s approval, she was found to have a high level of calcium in a kidney and that was enough for doctors to rule her out. . . . DeRose had read about Ferris’s story, and according to Lindsey Backmeyer, “was inspired to get tested. . . . See if she would be able to give Ferris a better life.” . . .

Robinson wrote on Facebook: “I would like to send a huge shout out to my friend Kimmy. . . . I would like to express how grateful this universe is for people like her.”

Robinson pointed out that DeRose didn’t have any connection to the Backmeyers and is “just a kind heart doing something extremely positive.”

She added: “Positive tests made Kim hopeful that this sweet little girl would get a chance to live her well-deserved life off dialysis; unfortunately, she got the phone call that . . . it is unsafe for her to donate.

“Feeling discouraged and broken, I wanted to express to my friend how brave and kind-hearted she is for doing something so scary!”

As Lindsey wrote on her Facebook page: “This world needs more Kims! There are at least a dozen kids in the province who need kidneys . . . hundreds of adults. Some of whom are parents of young children and all are deserving of a better life.”

A huge thank you to Kim DeRose from my little corner of the Kamloops kidney community. Thank you for being so unselfish. And, yes, the world, as Lindsey wrote, needs more people like you.

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.

WHL named in another proposed class-action suit . . . Former player Kobe Mohr involved in this one . . . Pats’ pick to skate in Sweden

Sheesh, it really can’t be much fun being the owner of a WHL team these days. For starters, you don’t know whether to be selling sponsorships, advertising and season tickets because you aren’t able to guarantee a starting date for a new whlseason. You are hoping to begin regular-season play on Dec. 4, but there aren’t any guarantees.

On top of that, you likely still are counting up the losses from not having been able to finish the 2019-20 season, thanks to the pandemic that doesn’t appear anywhere close to going way.

And now the WHL finds itself involved in yet another proposed class-action lawsuit, this one apparently having been filed this week.

Kobe Mohr, a former WHL player, is among those fronting this one that names the NHL, AHL, ECHL, OHL, QMJHL and WHL. Robert Cribb of the Toronto Star reports: “A proposed $825-million class-action claim alleges a conspiracy among the world’s top professional and amateur hockey leagues to exploit dream-chasing teenage players with one-sided contracts containing abusive restrictions on their young careers.”

Mohr, now 21, played with the Edmonton Oil Kings, Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets and Moose Jaw Warriors (2014-20). He totalled 35 goals and 66 assists in 265 regular-season games, after being selected by Edmonton with the 20th pick in the 2014 bantam draft.

The WHL now finds itself entangled to one degree or another in four separate class-action lawsuits in various stages of progression through the legal system. Two others — one involving concussions and the other regarding alleged hazing and other physical and mental abuses — are early in the process. . . .

The other, which involved a claim for past and present-day players to be paid minimum wage and other perks, was settled by the CHL for $30 million earlier this year, but the settlement still needs judicial approval. Rick Westhead of TSN reported Tuesday that an Ontario judge spent part of yesterday hearing arguments “about whether to approve” the settlement. According to Westhead, Justice Paul Perell said there are “objectors” to the settlement and that “a trade association called the World Association of Ice Hockey Players Unions has filed ‘an aggressive intervenor’ application with the courts to overturn” the settlement.

Ted Charney, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, asked the courts to approve the settlement, saying, according to Westhead, that “a settlement wouldn’t bar new federal court case because the new case alleges a conspiracy to breach the Competition Act, not employment standards laws.”

When Tuesday’s hearing concluded, judgment was reserved.

Asteroid

F Connor Bedard, who was selected first overall by the Regina Pats in the WHL’s 2020 bantam draft, will be travelling to Sweden so that he can skate with HV71’s junior team in Jönköping. Bedard, from North Vancouver, is the first player in history to have been granted exceptional status by Hockey Canada in order to allow him to play regularly in the WHL as a 15-year-old. . . . Because he won’t be playing in games in Sweden, the Pats didn’t have to issue a release. The WHL hopes to start its regular season on Dec. 4, by which time Bedard will have returned to Canada.

COVID-19 CHRONICLES . . .

The United Kingdom’s 10-team Elite Hockey League announced Tuesday that it has suspended play because of the pandemic. The season was scheduled to begin on Dec. 5. . . . “We’ve been very open that we need to have fans back in our arenas for us to begin playing again,” Tony Smith, the league’s chairman, said. “We operate around 75 to 100 per cent capacity at our venues and this is the level of crowds we would need in order to go ahead at any point, which isn’t a realistic option right now.” . . . The average attendance at league game last season was 3,043. . . .

The World Series will be played in one venue for the first time since 1944. The American and National League winners will play a best-of-seven championship series at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, with Game 1 scheduled for Oct. 20. . . . In 1944, the World Series was played in St. Louis, with both teams from that city. The Cardinals beat the Browns, 4-2. . . . Leading to the World Series, the American League Championship Series will be played at Petco Park in San Diego, with the NLCS at Arlington. . . . Prior to that, the AL Divison Series is to be played in San Diego and Los Angeles, with the NLDS in Arlington and Houston. . . .

The Texas Tech Red Raiders had five positives last week, bringing the team total to 75 since mid-June when testing began as football players returned to campus. The team is carrying more than 120 players. . . . The school has had 116 positives among its student-athletes. . . .

Ed Orgeron, the head football coach at LSU, told reporters on Tuesday that most of his time has had the virus. “Not all of our players, but most of our players have caught it,” he said. “I think that hopefully they won’t catch it again, and hopefully they’re not our for games.” . . . Alex Scarborough of ESPN pointed out: “LSU, like many programs in the SEC and nationally, has not provided regular reports on the number of players who have contracted the novel coronavirus.” . . .

The Quebec Student Sports Federation (QSSF) cancelled university sports for the fall semester on Monday. This means none of Canada’s four university conferences will play football this fall. The Quebec conference has five teams. . . . U Sports, the governing body for university sports in Canada, had cancelled its national semifinals and final in June. . . .

Organizers of the 2021 Kamloops International Bantam Ice Hockey Tournament have cancelled it. The tournament was to have run from Dec. 30 through Jan. 3. . . . Tournament chairman Jan Antons told Marty Hastings of Kamloops This Week: “We still don’t know what games are going to look like, when games are potentially going to start and, overall, the main concern was still the health and safety of our players, bringing players in from other provinces and dealing with the 50-person gathering-size limit. It would make it very difficulty to run a tournament at the level we’re used to. We want to make sure KIBIHT remains one of the top-notch tournaments in Canada. . . . there is just too much unknown right now. It’s still a very hard decision.”

Sign

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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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.

JUST NOTES: The WHL’s four community-owned teams each holds an annual general meeting that is open to shareholders. The Moose Jaw Warriors announced Tuesday that they will hold their AGM on Sept. 29. The Swift Current Broncos said earlier that their meeting also will be held on Sept. 29, with the Prince Albert Raiders having said they will hold their AGM on Oct. 7. . . . The Lethbridge Hurricanes have said their AGM will be held in November, but they have yet to announce an exact date. . . . I don’t know what it is — maybe NHL teams have come down with the ‘Bubble Blues’ — but the games are getting less and less watchable. Too many bodies in the area in front of both nets, not enough shots getting through, not enough offence, not enough goals. Whatever it is, it isn’t good for the NHL game. . . . Did you get your fill of football on Monday night? ESPN’s MNF team of Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick — they did the second game — were OK, but the Game 1 pairing of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit was outstanding. Fowler and Herbstreit have worked together as ESPN’s No. 1 college football pairing. They are comfortable with each other and it showed.

Hearing

Kamloops wife/mother of three needs kidney . . . Husband starts GoFundMe page

JulieDodds
Julie Dodds is in need of a kidney transplant. Are you able to help?

 

More than a year has come and gone since I wrote about Julie Dodds, a mother of three young boys and a Kamloops resident.

She had just revealed that she has a genetic kidney disease — Medullary Kidney Disease Type 1 — and had reached Stage 4. That is the last stage before a person enters kidney failure.

At that time, she wrote: “My kidneys are failing and I need a LIVING KIDNEY DONOR to have the best chance at life.

“I understand that this is a huge request, but for myself, for my husband, who wants nothing other than to be able to save me from all of this, for my three boys, who still need their mom to be present and healthy in their lives, it would mean absolutely everything.”

She also added this:

“WILL YOU HELP?

  • Any healthy adult can donate one of their kidneys — and, thanks to paired kidney exchange, you don’t have to be a blood-type match to the recipient!
  • You only need one kidney to live a healthy, long life.
  • Most donor surgery is done laparoscopically, meaning through tiny incisions.
  • The recuperation period is usually fairly quick, generally two weeks after 1-2 days in hospital.
  • The donor will have a separate team of healthcare professionals to evaluate her/him as a living donor. Their job is to help you understand the risks and benefits and look out for YOUR best interests.”

——

One of the important numbers to those with kidney disease is the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), something that is found via a blood test. According to the National Kidney Foundation, if your GFR is between 29 and 15, you are in Stage 4. If it slips below that, you are in kidney failure and closing in on dialysis, either peritoneal or hemo.

Today, that is where Julie finds herself.

Allan, Julie’s husband, now has started a GoFundMe page on which he reports that Julie’s GFR is at 13. “Over time,” he writes, “her kidney disease has gotten worse, causing her kidneys not to work well enough to keep her alive. . . . With such a lower function, Julie continues to try and be Super Mom/friend, but energy levels are now a struggle to keep up to her level of Mom-hood.”

In a perfect world, a kidney from a live donor will be found for her before she has to go on dialysis.

In the meantime, that GoFundMe page is right here. Included is a look at the various expenses that Allan is hoping to be able to cover via donations to the page.

——

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

——

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

——

Or, for more information, visit right here.