Pearl Lorentzen
Lakeside Leader
Living organ donation is more prevalent than one might think. Slave Lake has at least three living kidney donors and two kidney recipients. (There are also at least two living liver donors, who the Leader interviewed in 2021).
Sharon Watchel donated a kidney to her daughter back in 2001. During COVID, Bob Boucher donated one to his son and Jill Gongos to her brother, who doesn’t live in the area.
“His kidney failed in 2019, right before COVID,” says Gongos.
However, the surgery didn’t happen until March 3, 2021.
“It just kept getting pushed back because of COVID,” she says.
Gongos and Boucher work together at Whitecap. They were going through testing at the same time.
Bob’s son Brady was eight when he received his dad’s kidney. However, the family has known he’d need one eventually since he was a baby.
“A malformed kidney took out his good kidney,” says Joni Boucher, Brady’s mom.
When he was born, she suspected that there was something wrong. However, it wasn’t until he was six weeks old that the kidney problem was diagnosed. Joni and Brady were flown by air ambulance to Edmonton from Slave Lake.
By the time Brady was one year old, the doctors told the Bouchers that he’d need a kidney donation eventually. Over the years, he did quite well. Then right when COVID shut everything down, they got the news that he needed one.
“We knew we were a blood match going in,” says Joni, about herself and her husband.
However, only one donor at a time goes through the extensive tests to make sure they are healthy enough and compatible. With a child, the doctors ask the father first, because someone has to take care of both the donor and the recipient after surgery. This is normally the mother.
Bob and Brady’s surgeries were in September 2020. At the time, Joni, Brady, and Bob had to go into quarantine for 14 days before the surgery because of COVID-19 restrictions. However, in some ways it was good timing as Joni was able to work from home.
The surgery was on a Thursday, Bob was out of hospital by Saturday.
For three months, Bob and the Boucher’s middle daughter lived in Slave Lake. Joni and Brady lived in Edmonton, to be close to the hospital.
All three donors and Brady are doing well.
“I had no ill effects,” says Watchel. “I didn’t focus on it. I’m in perfectly good health. In no way has having one kidney impacted my life.”
After the surgery, Watchel was told to limit the amount of salt, drink lots of water, and to not do contact sports.
Both Bob and Brady are doing well, says Joni. Bob is on high blood pressure medicine, but his kidney is working very well. Brady’s new kidney is working over 100 per cent, which Joni didn’t realize was possible. However, the anti-rejection drugs have caused some issues. He’s on blood pressure medicine, and the previous kidney problems affected his bladder.
This winter Brady played hockey and curling.
“He’s able to do all of the things that a child should do,” says Joni.
Transplanted kidneys tend to last 10 to 15 years, says Watchel. Her daughter has been back on dialysis for a couple of years, and is waiting to get back on the transplant list.
Watchel was 49 when she donated her kidney.
“They were surprised at the viability of both kidneys,” she says. Watchel has never smoked. “That’s why my kidneys were in such good shape,” she adds.
“One thing I wasn’t prepared for was the fatigue,” says Watchel. “I don’t think I realized the enormity of the surgery.”
Watchel’s surgery was on July 3. At the Riverboat Daze parade shortly afterward, she walked the whole parade route pulling a wagon to raise awareness about organ donation. At the time, just dragging the hose across the lawn to water her flowers took all of her energy. After three or four weeks, Watchel went back to work part-time and was at work full-time after six weeks.
Neither Watchel or Gongos consider themselves heros.
“I’ve never thought wow look what I did,” says Watchel. “It was just a matter-of-fact thing we did to keep our family intact.”
“I never thought in my whole life I would do this,” says Gongos.
Gongos is afraid of needles and has never been admitted to hospital. However, she loves her brother. As soon as she heard he needed a kidney, she insisted on being the first person tested.
Living donors aren’t the only option for organ transplant. Some donated organs come from deceased donors.
“For somebody that needs an organ, it’s such a long wait,” says Gongos. If more people signed their donor cards there wouldn’t be the same need for living donors.
Another option in the future will likely be artificial kidneys.
The kidney is a filter, says Joni. Almost nine years ago, when they were first told that Brady would need a kidney transplant they learned about research into this, but it hasn’t happened yet. These would not need anti-rejection drugs and wouldn’t need to be replaced.
April 7 is Green Shirt Day to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation.
Living donors can donate a portion of their liver or one kidney, says myhealth.alberta.ca. Depending on how a person dies, deceased donors can donate more. Organs include: heart, lungs, liver, kidney, pancreas, pancreas islet cells, small bowel, and stomach. Tissues includes: cornea, sclera (white of the eye), heart valves, skin, bone, tendons, and amniotic tissue.
Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Registry is at https://myhealth.alberta.ca/Pages/OTDRHome.aspx This has sections for donations after death and live donors.
