As an ambulance dispatcher, a Markstay area woman is forthright, frank and factual about the situation her family is struggling with.
"My husband is desperately searching for a live kidney donor, and I am hoping you could possibly spread the word for us," said the urgent email from Kari Fisher of Markstay.
Fisher was writing on behalf of her husband, 38-year-old Christian Lemieux, who is a plant operator at the Enbridge natural gas operation in Hagar.
They were your typical Northern Ontario family — Mom, Dad, a daughter and a son — who enjoyed living in the North and enjoying the good life, which included a lot of outdoor activities.
Fisher said that all changed when Christian learned last year that he had unusual swelling in his legs. Although he had been a diabetic since he was a child, he never suspected kidney failure.
"So he had the swelling for pretty much most of the year last year, and then they were investigating it and couldn't find anything wrong. And then finally, the heart doctor actually realized that it was his kidneys failing, so we got sent to a nephrologist," said Fisher.
Things did not get better. By February, Christian required kidney dialysis. That's the process where the patient is connected to a machine that cleans the patient's blood and removes excess fluid from the body. It was also the sign that Christian needs a new kidney.
Fisher said it has been a significant change. For the family. And for Christian.
"It's a lot. We had to do a one week training class at the hospital, and there's other upcoming refreshers that we can do. But instead of three days a week at the hospital, he now does it every night, at home. So it's seven nights a week, every night by like 10 or 11 p.m., he has to connect to his dialysis and then he sleeps with it on but he wakes up in the morning, and he's still not rested," she said.
She said with the noise of the pump running all night, it's hard to get a good sleep.
"So then he gets up in the morning, he moves over to the couch after he disconnects, and he kind of sleeps some more. So like he's spending a lot of time now sleeping, other than going to work. He's often nauseous," said Fisher.
One positive change that has happened recently is that Christian was allowed to return to work for a couple of shifts a week, working only six hours a shift. Fisher said that while this eased the financial burden on the family a bit, the important thing is that it gave her husband a renewed sense of purpose.
"So actually it's good for his mental health because he was not doing too good, mental health wise. He would sit around and just be depressed the whole time. So this actually gets him out of the house. And they've given him some modified work," she said.
She said the situation is indeed stressful for the family. Not so much for her son, she said, since he is five. Fisher said her 11-year-old daughter knows about the stress, but is also amazingly strong and helpful to her parents.
Fisher said she is working as many hours as she can to boost the family income. It means her daughter often has to be a caregiver when Christian is not feeling well.
She said there are times when his blood pressure will crash and he will pass out or fall over. Fisher said that is difficult for an 11-year-old to see.
In the meantime, Christian continues with his daily dialysis regimen. He has ports that accept the dialysis tubes connected to his chest and belly. It limits his ability to do much activity, since the ports cannot become contaminated with any bacteria.
As it stands now, Christian is hoping for a kidney to be donated, sooner rather than later.
"So, he's on the waiting list. They finished his testing, and they put him on the waiting list as of the date that he started dialysis. So that's sort of his seniority on the list as it goes back to when he started dialysis in February. So he's been on the list for a little bit now," said Fisher.
She said the current list is for a kidney donated from a deceased person. But she said she is also hopeful that a person — blood type O positive — could be found who is willing to provide a living donation.
Most people have two healthy kidneys, said Fisher, and can live easily with one kidney.
Fisher said she has been told the lifespan for a patient receiving a kidney from a deceased donor is about seven years, and the patient's lifespan for a kidney from a live donor could be about 14 years.
She said she was also advised that patients who received a kidney from a deceased person might benefit from the fact that a pancreas could also be donated, which could resolve the patient's diabetes.
Even under the best conditions, Fisher was told it could take anywhere from three to five years before a donor is found.
She said awareness of donor programs is important.
"You can sign up to be a donor, you know. You can sign up to be a deceased donor. And that's helpful also if you're not interested in being a living donor.
“But I think everybody needs to look into the living donor process. And I think they'd be surprised to learn that they can live a long, healthy life with just one kidney. You only need the one kidney. So I encourage everybody to look into live donation," she said.
Len Gillis covers health care as well as the mining industry for Sudbury.com.
