Kory Bradshaw says he was in a Toronto ICU with only months left to live when he got the phone call from doctors about getting a long-awaited double-lung transplant.
Bradshaw, who has Cystic Fibrosis, didn’t hear anything for months after having gone through two false alarms since being put on the wait list for a transplant last May.
“Third time’s a charm,” Bradshaw told Global News Monday.
He and his wife, Renee Bradshaw, came to Toronto from their home in Kelowna, B.C., last January with the hope of receiving a transplant faster due to the better wait times in the city.
READ MORE: B.C. couple dealt devastating blow while husband waits for life-saving surgery in Toronto
The average wait time in B.C. is about two years, but in Toronto it’s around six months.
After receiving the transplant over four months ago, Kory said he feels “amazing” now.
“We can have a whole new life together, doing a lot of things that people might take for granted like walking and holding hands,” he said, adding he still has to get used being able to laugh properly.
That new life together will also include a new modular home for them when they move back to Kelowna at the end of the month.
In a cruel twist of fate, while Kory was in the ICU at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto in June, they received a call that their B.C. home was destroyed in a fire.
“They believe it was from a discarded cigarette that caught our cedar hedge on fire, which spread in the shed into our house,” Renee previously said.
Friends and neighbours quickly rallied to help them. Beth Shey, a neighbour they hardly knew, started a GoFundMe page to help them with living expenses while they were waiting for the transplant in Toronto.
The couple said the new modular home should be delivered by the time they get back and should be move-in ready by late January.
The Transplant
Kory underwent his transplant at Toronto General Hospital, which does about 150 lung transplants every year.
But Kory’s situation was unique. Since he and Renee are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and because of their beliefs, a blood transfusion was not possible. The couple said they searched for years but no surgeon would agree to attempt a bloodless transplant until they found Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, who agreed to perform the procedure as long as the couple understood the risks.
WATCH: B.C. couple’s house in Kelowna was destroyed by fire while they were in Toronto waiting for husband’s surgery
“If some sudden blood loss happened during his operation — he would die,” Keshavjee told Global News.
Keshavjee called the operation a medical advancement and said the operation was performed with next to no blood loss.
“We did that for Kory, so we can do more transplants for everybody without transfusions. We’ve worked hard for that and made the whole process better for everyone,” he said.
Kory said he knew the surgery was a risk, but it was one he was willing to take.
“Toronto General has been absolutely amazing from start to finish, from the care from the surgeons, the nurses, everybody — the whole team. It’s an amazing program they have.”
As for Renee, she said she is just happy to have her husband back.
“We don’t think about things anymore,” she said, adding the couple said they used to have to plan their whole day around how Kory was feeling.
READ MORE: Okanagan man’s home destroyed by fire while he awaits major surgery in Toronto
Before the surgery, he couldn’t move without an oxygen tank. But today, the couple can walk, go shopping, go out and do things other couples wouldn’t typically think twice about doing. Kory and Renee even love to go to the gym together.
“We can have a normal life, which is something we’ve never had before,” Renee said.
—With files from Tom Hayes
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