When Susannah McKenzie-Sutter heard her cousin in Ontario wanted a kidney transplant, the 28-year-old Saint John girl did not hesitate to supply certainly one of hers.
She hasn’t saved in shut contact with McKenzie Smith lately however has fond childhood reminiscences of spending summers along with her “cool older cousin.”
Preliminary blood assessments confirmed she’s a very good match.
However McKenzie-Sutter shortly discovered her plans might be thwarted as a result of she’s certainly one of hundreds of New Brunswickers with out a household physician.
The hospital in London, Ont., the place the transplant could be completed, instructed her she can’t donate — and even get examined to verify she’s a very good candidate — with out having a household physician or a nurse practitioner.
Susannah McKenzie-Sutter, 28, of Saint John needs to donate certainly one of her kidneys to her cousin in Ontario, however first she’s needed to scramble to discover a household physician.
“That was a giant, massive shock and I positively felt fairly pissed off,” McKenzie-Sutter mentioned.
Her 40-year-old cousin in Kitchener is in end-stage kidney failure.
Smith has a genetic type of power kidney illness, which progresses slowly, typically with out signs, till harmful ranges of fluid, electrolytes and wastes, akin to urea and acids, construct up within the physique.
Her kidney perform has dropped to about eight per cent. She is well fatigued and requires a number of drugs to handle her signs, akin to anemia and hypertension.
“Being pressured to confront my very own mortality is horrifying,” Smith posted on the Transplant Ambassador Program web site and on social media in mid-January, in search of a dwell donor.
Her medical doctors predict she will probably be in full kidney failure
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