John Bourgeois has been waiting two-and-a-half agonizing years hoping someone will be able to help him.
After battling prostate cancer, the 54-year-old’s health problems only worsened in 2021.
There were extended stays in the hospital to try and figure out what was going on.
“We had just come through his prostate cancer treatments so we didn’t know what was going on and it was during COVID, we couldn’t be in the hospital with him,” said his wife, Angela Pottier.
Then, Bourgeois learned his kidneys were failing because of his liver. He would need a liver transplant to live and things were complicated more when he learned that, based on testing, he did not qualify for priority status.
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“At the time, it was just very overwhelming,” Bourgeois said.
Then Bourgeois saw a sign advertising billboard space for rent on Bath Road and he had an idea.
Earlier this week his plea went up.
Anyone passing by is alerted to Bourgeiois’ plight.
He hopes people with Type O blood pays particular attention.
“If I can find somebody to give me the liver, it would be great, because my outcome without it is bleak,” he said.
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, there were over 2,900 organ transplants performed in 2022, with just 20 per cent of those being donations from live donors.
As of the end of December of 2022, there were almost 4,000 people were waiting for a transplant.
Over the past few years, Bourgeois has spent many days and nights in hospital, missing birthdays, graduations and other life milestones.
He said many days he can’t do much more than sleep because of how tired his condition leaves him.
Interested donors with Type O blood can reach out to the family by emailing Hope4JohnB@gmail.com.
“It would be a life saving gift of life,” Bourgeois said.
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