A shortage, and a solution

Ottawa Citizen | Bruce Deachman

Every three days, someone in Ontario dies while waiting for an organ transplant. If more than one in five people joined the donor registry, that number could change.

Russell resident Melanie Joanette is 34 and an administrative assistant at CHEO. She has chronic kidney failure and for the past two years has had to undergo dialysis treatments nearly 30 times a week.

On top of the enormous amount of time her dialysis requires, her condition frequently leaves her too tired to do things that others take for granted. If she’s to attain what other people would describe as a “normal” life, she needs a new kidney.

Garry Keller, a 35-year-old senior political staffer on Parliament Hill who was married this past September, was diagnosed six years ago with total kidney failure. The Lincoln Fields resident has been on dialysis every day, nine hours at a time, since. A recent health scare raised concerns with his doctors, who have encouraged him to try and find a living kidney donor as soon as possible.

Twenty-year-old Barrhaven resident Hélène Campbell learned two months ago that she needs new lungs. At the time, hers were working at just 24-per-cent capacity, and she wonders how low that number can go before she dies, and whether a pair of compatible lungs can be found before that happens.

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