Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore made a selfless decision that changed the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Joanna Love is a Quebec school teacher that was diagnosed with severe kidney disease during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Annie Devost is a Longueuil police (SPAL) officer, who wanted to help someone.
"The desire was to give someone life since I didn't have any children, I did not have that luck," said Devost. "I wanted to give life back and that was my way to do it."
Devost said she was in a dark place after grieving the loss of her mother. She heard an interview on the radio with an anonymous kidney donor that inspired her to do the same.
At the same time, Love was on dialysis, waiting for a match.
"They said I had severe kidney disease and I would need a transplant," she said. "I was told five to six years, and so I was like, okay, that's what you have to do because you have a family, and that's what I had to do."
Devost contacted Transplant Quebec and went to the MUHC for tests to see if she would be a good match for someone.
After many tests, she was approved to donate -- but she had one condition.
"I don't want my kidney to go to Halifax or Vancouver, I want it to stay here in Quebec!" she said.
Longueuil police officer Annie Devost donated her kidney to schoolteacher Joanna Love as an act to give back and help another. (Joanna Love)
Love was ecstatic when she was told a match had been found and floored when she found out it was a living stranger who would be donating the organ.
"What kind of person does this?" she said. "This is an extraordinary person."
In Quebec, around 10 per cent of transplanted organs come from living donors, far below the national average.
Living donor kidneys have a far longer lifespan, according to Dr. Ahsan Alam.
Also, a person can live a healthy, active life with one kidney.
"The goal for us is to make sure: one, that they are motivated themselves to be a living donor, we don't want any pressure or coersion or influence to make their decision," said Alam. "The second is that they should be healthy."
Joanna Love was ecstatic when she found out that a stranger had donated a kidney to her after she was diagnosed with severe kidney failure. (Joanna Love)
Love and Devost had their surgeries at the Royal Victoria Hospital, though they didn't know the other was there.
Contact is prohibited unless both parties want to meet.
The women wrote letters to each other and then got together.
"We hugged for so long," said Love. "We had this instant bond with one another."
"I was so happy for her, for her children, for her husband," said Devost.
Devost said that by sharing her story, she hopes to inspire others to donate.
"My mom would be proud of me. I know," she said.
Love also wants to give back.
She got the two matching kidney necklaces with the date of their surgeries inscribed.
"My life has changed completely because of her," she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Humboldt Broncos crash victims and families react to decision to deport truck driver
The family of one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 says they are 'thankful' for a decision by a Calgary immigration board to deport the driver of the truck involved.
Fatal plane crash reported near Squamish, B.C.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it is working with local Mounties and the BC Coroners Service after a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. Friday night.
'God forgives but we don’t': Loud outburst from stabbing victim’s family during sentencing hearing
An emotional outburst in a London, Ont. courtroom Friday disrupted the sentencing hearing of a woman who pleaded guilty for her part in the death of 29-year-old Mohammed Abdallah.
Three dead after vehicle plunged down a 100-foot embankment in Shediac, N.B.
Three people have died after a vehicle veered off the road in Shediac N.B., Friday morning.
Appeal denied for Edmonton soldier accused of trying to kill her 3 children
An Edmonton woman found guilty of trying to kill her three children has been denied an appeal.