St. Paul’s hospital in conjunction with Providence Health Care and B.C. Transplant is celebrating kidney transplant – No.2000.
The recipient of that transplant is Nelda Gill.
Her mother was one of St. Paul’s first transplant patients when the program began in 1986.
Along with staff at the hospital, Nelda credits the paired donor exchange program for how quickly she was able to get her transplant.
The program allows two kidney recipients to essentially swap willing donors.
While Nelda’s husband was willing to donate, he was not a match. Not for her anyway.
But with the help of a computerized registry, Glenn was able to give to someone else, whose loved one intern gave to Nelda.
The reason for success stories like Nelda’s has a lot to do with the gained acceptance of “living” donations.
When St. Paul’s – one of 3 B.C. hospitals that perform kidney transplants – started offering the procedure in 1986, organs came exclusively from deceased donors.
“We use to have one of the lowest donor rates per million population in Canada, and now we surpass all other provinces,” says Amber Appleby with B.C. Transplant.
Such programs are increasing the number of donations, but with over 400 B.C.’s waiting for kidneys, a need that continues to grow.
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