Julie Dodds has three potential donors as she waits for a kidney transplant (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

JULIE DODDS

Kamloops woman close to receiving kidney transplant with potential donors

Sep 17, 2020 | 12:44 PM

KAMLOOPS — Julie and Allan Dodds feel so close to finding a match for Julie’s kidney transplant. It’s been a four-year journey since she was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2015.

While Julie is trying to contain her excitement until the transplant actually happens, she’s hopeful it will happen soon.

“It’s amazing. It’s such a relief to think that it’s a possibility,” noted Julie. “It’s right there. We’re so close to the finish line of a whole new chapter of things.”

There are three potential matches for Julie, including her brother Jason.

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“I believe one of them is considered a match and the other two have one test left to do. We’re matching our immunities to the different viruses and germs. Those are the last couple tests and it looks really promising,” she said.

The Dodds are now preparing for Julie to travel to Vancouver, depending on when the donor is available. It will be an expensive trip with travel, accomodations and food. Earlier this month, the family launched a GoFundMe page with a goal to raise $15,000. In two weeks, they’ve almost reached it with great community support.

“Once we hit the submit button, it was a time when we were going through some good stress. It was a day before going on holidays, so we were just like ‘let’s do it'” said Julie’s husband Allan Dodds. “And then you just scroll through the people. It’s friend after friend, or friends of friends. That’s what we noticed a lot actually was just everybody wanted to help.”

The donations will take care of Julie in Vancouver while Allan and their three boys stay in Kamloops.

“That’s my stress. To send her there and not be able to do what we do as husbands is a tough one,” he said. “I’ve got to trust the system and trust the process that she’ll be taken care of. Then just keep everything normal here to get through because we don’t know the timeframe — weeks, months.”

However stressful the process has been, Julie is just looking forward to getting a new lease on life.

“It’s kind of impossible to imagine really,” she said. “How different am I going to feel? Just the weight of ‘what is the future going to look like?’ That will kind of go away. I know there’s still going to be worries for sure. There’s still going to be health worries forever. But the big looming one, that’s going to go away. Oh my God, I can’t even imagine.”