Surrey couple benefits from kidney exchange program

Of the nearly one thousand Canadians who got a kidney transplant through the Kidney Paired Donation program, nearly 300 of them live in B.C.

The program matches patients to living donors if they’re incompatible with those they know.

“If we’re taking a thousand people off the deceased on a waiting list, that makes the waiting time shorter for those who are on it and also the complexity of the people that are on it also… Living donation gives people a chance to avoid dialysis, avoid waiting and get a better quality organ,” said Dr. Olwyn Johnston, a medical director of kidney and pancreas transplants at Vancouver General Hospital.

She says the demand for kidneys in B.C. outweighs the supply; 30,000 people have chronic kidney disease, and thousands are in line for a transplant.

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Devan Grewal of Surrey says he grew up with kidney problems, but his wife Mandeep’s blood type wasn’t compatible. They both found out they had a match on Valentine’s Day this year.

“I pretty much put my hands in the air and jumped up and said I got a kidney!”

Two months after the operation, Devan says he’s back to his old self.

“When we were able to leave the hospital and I got home, I instantly felt my energy increasing rapidly. I got compliments, saying that I started getting colour back on my face, my hair was getting longer and I could just feel everything going back to normal the way it was before I went on to dialysis,” he explained.

Mandeep, who donated her kidney, says she’s still recovering.

“I’m still kind of dealing with a little bit of lack of energy. But overall, now at the two-month mark, I’m feeling a lot better and almost I would say back to normal,” she said.

Dr. Johnston says the paired donations get matched faster in most cases than staying on the deceased donor waiting list. The Grewals say they don’t regret joining the program.

“You don’t realize how many people are going through this. And as soon as you talk to somebody about it, somebody knows somebody who’s going through it,” said Devan.

“I was just happy to be helping Gavin and getting his life back and then at the same time helping somebody else with that, too,” Mandeep added.