#kidneyforruss

[resaw6]

The Kidney Walk is done for another year. Thank you.

The Kidney Walk is done for another year. Thank you.

It was a beautiful blue-sky kind of Sunday for this year’s edition of the Kidney Foundation‘s annual Kidney Walk in London, Ontario. As fundraisers go, it was quite a success, raising in excess of $38,000 for the Foundation. On an individual level, you, my sponsors, combined to put my walk first among individual fundraisers, raising $2,360. Thank you very much for your support for me and for this…

[resaw6]

Please Sponsor My Kidney Walk

Please Sponsor My Kidney Walk

With deep gratitude for the blessings of health, I am again participating in the Kidney Walk for The Kidney Foundation of Canada. The goal of the walk is to raise funds to help people with kidney disease and to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation.

For me this is a very big deal because three years ago on July 29, 2016, I received a kidney transplant from a living donor. I…

[resaw6]

Please Sponsor My Kidney Walk: COVID-19 Edition

Please Sponsor My Kidney Walk: COVID-19 Edition

Disease is on everyone’s mind these days. COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, has brought home to our society the powerful impact that sickness can have not only on the lives of individuals and families, but on whole societies, economies and governments.

I am grateful for the blessings of health throughout this period. As a recipient of a kidney transplant, my immune system has been deliberately…

[resaw6]

Young Chilliwack mother donates five organs to help save others following her death

Young Chilliwack mother donates five organs to help save others following her death

I saw this article posted in an end-of-year review on the website for my hometown paper. Please read it and, if you have not yet chosen to do so, consider registering as an organ donor. If tragedy were to strike, you too could offer someone else the gift of life.

Shera Morgan is seen here with her three children Lucas (8), Wade (6) and Elena (4). Morgan suffered a brain aneurysm on Oct. 20 and…

[resaw6]

Calgary MP wants to use tax form to boost organ donation

Calgary MP wants to use tax form to boost organ donation

If this bill goes through, it will add a question about consent for organ donation to your tax form. Given that 90 percent of Canadians say they support organ donation, this process will make it easier for all of us to make the decision we already say we support.

Please reach out to your MP and Senators to support the passage of this bill. Doing so could make for the most wonderful Christmas…

[resaw6]

"You gave me life"

“You gave me life”

This inspiring article comes courtesy of Tom Hayes of Global News.

Toronto kidney recipient celebrates 40-year anniversary

When 72-year-old Tom Mitrovski’s kidneys failed, he thought he had five-to-10 years to live. That’s what he was told 40 years ago.

“I was so tired. I didn’t understand,” said Mitrovski thinking back to the early 1970s.

Mitrovski said he was told by his doctor that his kidneys…

[resaw6]

She saved her sister with a kidney donation. 40 years on, they're still celebrating

She saved her sister with a kidney donation. 40 years on, they’re still celebrating

Forty years ago on Thursday, Donna Watters, left, of Aylmer, went under the knife to donate a kidney to keep her sister Lorna Telheiro, of Chatham, alive. They have been celebrating the “kidney anniversary” ever since. (Ellwood Shreve/Chatham Daily News)

This is an exciting article for the not-so-mere fact that this kidney transplant from one sister to the other has lasted for 40 years. When I…

[resaw6]

London Kidney Walk 2019 is History - Thank you

London Kidney Walk 2019 is History – Thank you

Many thanks to all of you for spreading the word, sponsoring my walk, signing up as an organ donor and all the other wonderful things that I have received in support of efforts to address kidney disease.

My fellow walkers: my wife Etsuko and daughters Rika and Aisha

The Kidney Walk was held at Gibbons Park, London, ON. It was a beautiful day for more reasons than one.

On a monetary basis, all of…

[resaw6]

Nova Scotia passes bill for "Presumed Consent" Organ Donation

Nova Scotia passes bill for “Presumed Consent” Organ Donation

  Canada currently operates under an “Opt-In” system for organ donation. That means that you have to sign up to put yourself on your province’s list of willing organ donors. However, in a move that puts Nova Scotia first among jurisdictions in North America, the province’s legislature has passed a bill for an “Opt-Out” system also known as “Presumed Consent.” It is routinely said that greater…

[resaw6]

I was a stranger and you gave me water... and a kidney!

I was a stranger and you gave me water… and a kidney!

Andy Clutton donated a kidney to Ghulam Akbar Momand after they became friends and neighbours living in a Rebecca Street highrise. – Barry Gray,The Hamilton Spectator

The following article was first published in The Hamilton Spectator and also published in The Star.

He was a stranger next door. Then he gave him a kidney By NATALIE PADDONThe Hamilton Spectator Wed., Nov. 28, 2018

Their story…

[resaw6]

How Artificial Intelligence (AI) Changed Organ Donation

How Artificial Intelligence (AI) Changed Organ Donation

I received a kidney from a living donor in 2016. That this happened was a result of developments described in this article, a program run by Canadian Blood Services that would take all the available but incompatible donor-recipient pairs across Canada and seek to match them up. After going through that exercise multiple times with no success, the difference came about because an altruistic…

[resaw6]

Engineered pig lung transplant 'a success'

Engineered pig lung transplant ‘a success’

This development is great news for those who will need transplants in the coming years. It’s hard to imagine receiving a transplanted organ without requiring anti-rejection drugs. I take several myself every day and will continue to do as long as I have a functioning donor kidney. This is a wonderful example of the kind of research that goes on in the world of transplant medicine.

Engineered pig…

[resaw6]

Going on a Kidney Walk, 2018 edition

Going on a Kidney Walk, 2018 edition

It has been a while since I have published here.

I have been back at work since the beginning 2017. However, since mid-June I have taken a personal leave of absence. No, not because of ill health, but because my wife, Etsuko, has taken a short-term contract job in Japan. She is an interpreter for a Japanese construction company that is building wind turbines that were engineered by General…

[resaw6]

The Globe and Mail. "No more secrets: Why I broke protocol as a kidney donor"

The Globe and Mail. “No more secrets: Why I broke protocol as a kidney donor”

This “First Person” article originally appeared in The Globe and Mail on April 27, 2018.

    Twice a year – at Christmas and in early June – I hear from a man whom I have met only once, who lives in a remote village far from my Vancouver home, but with whom I share something intimate: our kidneys. I’ve got one, he’s got the other. I’m not supposed to know this man. Protocols in the national…

[resaw6]

Organ donation by Humboldt Broncos player inspires others

Organ donation by Humboldt Broncos player inspires others

Please read this article about the decision Humboldt Broncos hockey player, Logan Boulet, made to become an organ donor. In particular, note that there are 4500 people across Canada in need of an organ transplant, among them a two-year-old boy named Mason.

Organ donation by Humboldt Broncos player inspires othersDonation agencies across Canada say registration jumped after bus crash that claimed…

[resaw6]

Health Update

Just a brief update here today. The onset of Type 2 diabetes becomes more likely once one receives a transplant after age 45. Although my new kidney has been working well, I certainly haven’t wanted to put its good functioning to the test by having elevated blood sugar.

Here’s a chart which explains what the A1C numbers mean and where it puts one on the scale.

My first tests had me in the low…