Montreal man seeks living kidney donor as dialysis takes toll

A 25-year-old Montreal man is looking for a living kidney donor and has made a public appeal on social media. Until he finds one, Julian Zadrozny must undergo 10 hours of dialysis a day.

Zadrozny said that late last year, he knew something was wrong.

"[I had] cramps, trouble sleeping, and shortness breath."

He said blood tests confirmed that he needed a kidney. 

Kayleigh Tooke, Zadrozny's partner, helps with the day-to-day of his dialysis.

"There is a lot of tubing, a lot of bags to set up. And if you set them up wrong it could cause a lot of harm," Tooke said.

Zadrozny, who studies at Concordia University, said his quality of life is suffering because of the dialysis, so he decided to put the call out for a living donor on social media.

"A living donor is safer than people think, in surgery. They go in with two tubes and take out the kidney with that and they don't actually take out my existing kidneys, they give me a third one," he explained.

Patricia Hooker of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) living donor clinic said that it is a big decision to donate an organ, and it all starts with a questionnaire.

"We screen them at the beginning to see if the kidney is good enough to donate and if the donor can live a long life with one kidney," she said.

Hooker added that the clinic is with the donor and recipient every step of the way.

"If you can find a living donor and everyone is cleared and ready, there isn't a long wait time for surgery after that. It is usually within one or two months, and it removes that person from the deceased donor list so others can move up the list."

The number for the MUHC living doner clinic is 514 934-1934 ext. 36003.