A young patient named Noemi Bertrand has become the first recipient of a living-donor adult-to-child transplant in the new Glen hospital.
For five years the 10-year-old, who was born with just one kidney, has needed a donor. Things got even worse this past spring.
“She had to go through dialysis like, three times a week for about four hours each time,” said Noemie’s mother, Martine Bertrand.
While both Noemi’s parents were screened as donors and found suitable, Martine was found to be a closer match.
In the past, a transplant like this would have required two hospitals, with the kidney being removed at the Royal Vic and then transported to the Children’s for insertion into the patient. That meant possible delays due to traffic.
“We would have put things in a cooler and then transported, probably by taxi or the surgeon’s car, down to the Children’s,” said Jean Tchervenkov, director of the Children’s renal transplant program.
But for Noemie, the kidney was transported a mere 100 meters. In addition, her and her mom were able to see each other much faster.
“Even for myself, the second day, I went out of my room and I came to see Noemie,” said the elder Bertrand. “I couldn’t have done that if we were in a separate hospital, that’s for sure.”
