Transplant recipient raising awareness on importance of living donors

 Eight years ago, Linda Paradis was a shadow of her former self. The previously active woman could hardly breathe and was on oxygen 24/7.

"Every day, I was, feeling death; death from very, very close," she said.

Paradis was suffering from Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, which was basically shrinking her lungs.

She was on the wait list for a double-lung transplant, which she eventually received.

For Paradis, it was a gift that was life-changing and life-giving.

Today, at 66 years old, Paradis appears to be the picture of perfect health and has been using her new lungs to their fullest. She cycles, dances, golfs, kickboxes and plays pickleball.

"I am the living proof that organ donation really works," she said. "It's been eight years. I've been enjoying life a lot, with my children, friends and family."

However, after years of taking anti-rejection medication, Paradis' kidneys are suffering. They are currently functioning at between 18 and 20 per cent. Once they hit 15 per cent, Paradis says she will have to go on dialysis multiple times a week and will be put on a waitlist for yet another transplant.

"The dialysis only does 15 per cent of the job," said Paradis. "So this means that your body is constantly poisoned by the toxins circulating in your system. So it's really making your body age so much faster, deteriorate at a slow speed, and it can last three, four, five years before you can receive, the gift of a kidney."

There are 605 people on the waitlist for a kidney transplant in Quebec as of December 2023.

Unlike with her lungs, Paradis can now hope for what's called a living donor. In Canada, kidney and liver transplants can be done through organ donation by a person who is alive.

"Almost half of the kidneys of we are doing are from living donors," said Dr. Michel Lallier, a transplant surgeon with the CHUM hospital network. "So the option of a living donor is good for the patient who's going to receive that kidney because it's always a better kidney."

Paradis says an organ is not something people can ask for, but she hopes to raise awareness about the process of becoming a living donor.

It involves a rigorous third-party evaluation and a dedicated team that will answer any questions a potential donor has.

A series of tests will be conducted to look at the health of the organ and to rule out any health conditions like heart problems or diabetes, which would disqualify someone from organ donation.

Lallier said the process can take between three and six months to complete.

Once someone agrees to be a donor and is deemed to be a suitable match, the surgery to remove the kidney is minimally invasive because it's done laparoscopically. Lallier said it only requires a two to three day stay in hospital.

"My brother just gone through [the [process] because he was one of my potential donors," said Paradis.  "And after four months of evaluation, he was excluded. And only yesterday a friend of mine called me to say she did the process and got the call that our blood test is compatible, but our antibodies are not."

Now Paradis says her son has started the process of finding out if he's a compatible donor.

Lallier said that occasionally donors are "altruistic," meaning they don't know the person receiving their kidney. However, most of the time, living donors are family or friends of the person receiving the transplant.

There is also a strong living donor pair exchange program in Canada. Couples who aren't considered a match with each other can be paired with others who are.

"If you want to give it to a loved one but you are not compatible, you can still give with that pair exchange," said Lallier.  "You'll give to somebody who needs it, and your loved one is going to have the kidney of the person who's compatible with him."

Most living donors qualify for a reimbursement program in Quebec to cover things like lost income and travel expenses. Paradis feels that's not enough and is in the process of lobbying the provincial government to provide living donors with additional compensation.

"It's an indemnity for those six months to a year that you're going to put your life aside in order to go and make that heroic human gesture of giving one of your organs," she said.

Since it can take years before someone receives a kidney, and keeping a person on dialysis can cost as much as $100,000 per year, Paradis believes if a gesture of compensation helps bring the transplant waiting list down, it will ultimately amount to huge savings for the health-care system.

While she waits and hopes for another organ transplant, Paradis remains optimistic.

"I'm enjoying life fully, and I say 'merci la vie'."

Anyone interested in learning more about living organ donation can do so confidentially by contacting one of Quebec's living organ transplant centres or Transplant Quebec.