Dad donates kidney to son

BY LARISSA CAHUTE ,OTTAWA SUN

Stan Wong got the ultimate Father’s Day gift: Watching his son get his life back.

Last month Wong donated his kidney to his son.

Approximately five years ago, the young man was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. According to Wong, his son’s kidneys were too small.

“He grew, but the kidneys didn’t.”

By last fall, his kidneys were working at 13%.

According to the Kidney Foundation of Canada, when a kidney works at less than 15% of normal, the disease is at its worst. The only solution is dialysis or transplant.

Wong’s son was on dialysis for approximately two months with no signs of improvement. At that point, a transplant was the only recourse.

“We had anticipated (a transplant) maybe 30 years down the road,” he said. But when the time came sooner than expected? “I had no second thoughts.”

Wong stepped up to the plate to volunteer, along with other family members, and he was the ultimate match.

“I had to go through quite a number of hoops in terms of the testing procedures – they really put you through a lot.”

Blood work, tissue tests, psychiatric testing, social counsellors, CT scans, and colonoscopies.

But none of this was cause for hesitation.

“To know what he’s gone through,” said Wong, “He’s very energetic and to see someone kind of put back, not doing a heck of a lot...”

Wong saw the improvements when he and his son went for breakfast sometime after surgery. “He ordered a tremendous amount of breakfast – it was like watching someone open a gift at Christmas time.”

Never did Wong consider himself a hero. “My intentions definitely weren’t to get anything in terms of notoriety,” said Wong.

But his co-workers at Sear’s saw otherwise. He was nominated the store’s “number one dad ever”, said Eric Plunkett. Along with other employees, Plunkett raised $1000 for a plane ticket. Wong takes an annual trip to Winnipeg to visit family. But because he’s been off recovering, he can’t afford it this year.

“Believe it or not, a customer got wind of what we were doing and donated $50,” said Plunkett. “No one wanted to see him hitchhike.”

Wong now encourages potential organ donors to donate, and offers to talk people through the process.

Trillium Gift of Life Network, an agency of the provincial government, has recently launched http://beadonor.ca/, an on-line organ and tissue donor registry.