Squamish Nation artist searching for perfect kidney donor match

Míkw’achi7m Marissa Nahanee has spent the last two years receiving dialysis three times a week — a traumatic process which she says is no way to live a life.

Receiving a living kidney donation from her mom, Nahanee’s donor kidney failed two years ago after nine years of success, putting the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) and Nisga’a Nation artist back on the transplant list.

In celebration of Living Donation Week with Great Actions Leave a Mark, Nahanee is sharing her story in hopes she’ll find her perfect match and receive a kidney transplant as soon as possible.

“To receive a kidney donor, it’s a lot more complicated. The first time I needed blood match type O, and now I need a blood match type O plus a lot of more variables,” she explained to CityNews.

Creating antibodies against her previous donor kidney, Nahanee said she will need to work harder to find a match that her body won’t reject.

“It means that we have to go under tests to see if they’re the right size or blood match,” she said, adding that even the task of asking someone to donate an organ can be difficult.

“I would never want to make someone suffer,” she said with grace.

Having to do dialysis therapy three times a week has been draining, Nahanee says. Impacting her ability to go to work and see friends, she says she typically spends dialysis days by herself because of fatigue.

“I go to dialysis in the morning, and an hour before going into dialysis, I have to put on cream so it can numb my arm.”

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Showing CityNews her fistula, which connects an artery directly to a vein in her arm to allow high blood flow through a dialyzer, Nahanee explained that without the numbing cream, the process would be extremely painful.

“They have these horse-sized needles, ones to take out all my blood, clean it, and then another needle stuck in to return the blood,” she said. “And then I have to sit very still for four hours, and if I move I risk having the needle hit my vein and hurt my fistula.”

Receiving a match would mean the possibility to get “back to my life,” Nahanee said.

While many living donors are often related to the patients, they don’t have to be, according to Transplant BC. Adults in the province can choose to donate a kidney to someone they know, on behalf of someone they know, or can donate anonymously.

“I would love to go back to work, to be able to be social again,” she said, adding that once being a workaholic, she’s been reduced to working a quarter of what she used to.

“You know, people who donate are my heroes. People who donate blood, donate organs, donate time, because it means that you’re letting someone else suffer less,” she said.

Both of Nahanee’s parents have received transplants too — a shared experience between the three of them that she says has been paramount to her support and experience.

“I am extremely lucky to have my parents, they’re the biggest sweethearts,” she said.

More information about living kidney donation can be found at Transplant BC. If you’re interested to see if you might be Nahanee’s perfect match, you can email kidneydonornurse@vch.ca or donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca to express interest.

More information on Nahanee’s art practice can be found at her website.

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