Seven weeks after surgery, mom and daughter are recovering nicely—in their respective homes in Wikwemikong and Toronto—from an early-June surgery that gave the elder Ms. Beaudry a new lease on life.
"It was two and a half years of planning," says the younger Ms. Beaudry on the phone from Toronto. "It was quite the journey. But everything went well."
The story began 20 years ago when Ms. Beaudry was diagnosed with diabetes, just as her daughter was graduating high school. In 2007, she went into end-stage renal failure—a complication of diabetes—with her kidney functioning at less than 5 percent.
Admitted to the Manitoulin Health Centre in Little Current, Ms. Beaudry was given less than five days to live; her health declined, but she wasn't ready to give up, and her determined daughter fought to have her moved to Sudbury where she could receive dialysis treatments.
"After two rounds of dialysis—this is four or five days after being told she wasn't going to live—she was back to herself," Ms. Beaudry recalls. "She was herself completely again: the same smile, the happy-go-lucky person, making other people laugh. It was just amazing to see that."
Dialysis—which performs the function of failed kidneys by filtering waste products out of the blood—is a long, involved process, usually requiring a commitment of several hours a week. After going through several rounds of dialysis, the elder Ms. Beaudry decided she wanted to be considered for a kidney transplant.
"I don't think she knew what that entailed, but I decided that if she wanted a new kidney, I wanted to be tested," Ms. Beaudry says.
What followed was a long process of examination that lasted more than two years for mom and a year for her daughter. Donors like Ms. Beaudry go through a series of 22 tests—examining everything from blood and criatine levels to HIV status and psychological readiness—to ensure they are prepared and eligible for the transplant surgery.
The process was rattling. Because of a high incidence of diabetes in the family, no other candidate was deemed appropriate, and being in good shape from her years as a runner and a healthy-living advocate, Ms. Beaudry was regarded as the best person to provide a donation. She worried constantly that she wouldn't pass the tests and her mother would be left to languish on the deceased donor list.
"More people die waiting on the list than people receiving kidneys," Ms. Beaudry notes. "There's a wait time of six to 12 years to get a deceased donor."
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, more than 36,600 Canadians were living with end-stage renal disease, otherwise known as kidney failure, at the end of 2008—an increase of 57 percent since 1999. Of the 2,080 transplant surgeries performed in 2008 in Canada, the highest proportion (1,216) were for kidneys.
In mid-September of last year, the younger Ms. Beaudry received the news she had been waiting for: the nephrologists had cleared her for the surgery—one week before her birthday. "I was ecstatic," she says. "It was the greatest birthday gift they could give me."
A successful knee surgery for her mom for an unrelated condition meant that the mother and daughter were ready, but by the new year, when they still didn't have a surgery date, Ms. Beaudry contacted the surgeon directly, emphasizing their wish to continue the process. Within 24 hours, she received a reply, with an operation date for spring.
Leading up to the surgery, the elder Ms. Beaudry remained calm and cool, confident in going ahead, but her daughter was a "nervous wreck," worrying about whether the surgery would work.
She needn't have worried. Doctors said the kidney began to work right away, although after 10 hours they did face a minor setback when the organ moved into what's called "sleepy stage"—which can last between two and six weeks—when the kidney goes into shock after being removed from one body and transplanted to someone new. It's a fairly normal reaction, but Ms. Beaudry describes the ensuing three and a half weeks as an emotional roller coaster while the family waited to ensure the kidney would continue to function.
"Then we were told it was rejecting and were devastated," she recalls. "But then, within 24 hours, we were told it wasn't rejecting and it was taking."
Less than two months after surgery, both mom and daughter have recovered nicely from the surgeries, with no lasting repercussions. Neither has to make any major adjustments to their lives, and should go on to live healthy, fulfilling lives.
"The biggest thing why we wanted this for her and why she wanted it is that she was going to dialysis three times a week; your life revolves around dialysis," Ms. Beaudry says. "My mom was beginning to feel like she had no life. She was starting to lose her will to want to live because of dialysis. It was two and a half years, but it took an emotional toll and that was hard to see. When you look at the freedom and independence now, she doesn't have to plan her day around dialysis. That's the greatest thing she's gained from it."
Though other members of the family were initially not supportive of the plan, worrying about complications, by becoming educated on the facts surrounding organ donation, they eventually all got on board, and Ms. Beaudry says that's the next best benefit the surgery has brought her. She has been able to use her own experience to educate others about the realities of organ donation.
"We take for granted that we sign our driver's licence or health card saying we'll donate and that's it," she says. "But I educated myself on the details of a kidney transplant."
Organ donation is not as complex or fearful as it is often made out to be, she says, and she recommends people look into the possibility of donating, especially if they have a loved one who is waiting for a precious spot on the waiting list.
"It changes your life—it's changed my life and my outlook," she says. "If I could do it again, I would."
Although we're born with two functioning kidneys, humans can live quite comfortably with just one. Now that Ms. Beaudry has given one of hers up, there is the question of what would happen if she ever injures her good kidney and requires her own transplant. "Trust me, I've already asked that question to a few people and I've got some people who are willing to donate," she chuckles.
But that day might never come, reasons Ms. Beaudry, and instead she prefers to think about it in these terms: "A friend told me, you're giving up a part of you to give to your mom; your mom gave you life and now you're giving her her life back."
Ironically, the surgery was originally scheduled for Mother's Day, but had to be pushed back due to scheduling.
A language barrier prevented the Expositor from speaking directly with the elder Ms. Beaudry, but her daughter said the difference in her mom's attitude towards life has been remarkable.
"My mom has to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life, but I think I would take that over dialysis every day and my mom would say the same thing," she says. "She's ecstatic. She has more time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It's given her a sense of freedom back."
For more information about organ donation, visit the Organ Donation and Transplant Association of Canada at organdonations.ca.
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