By Olivia McDonald / CKPG News

BC suffers from kidney shortage

Sep 23, 2018 | 10:57 AM

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — For patients with end-stage kidney disease, there are two courses of treatment: dialysis and a kidney transplant. In British Columbia, there is a shortage of kidney donors which is causing the waiting period for a transplant to grow to one of the longest in the country. 

In Canada, there were 4,300 people on the waiting list for an organ transplant in 2017. According to the Kidney Foundation of Canada, 3,400 of those people were waiting for kidneys. Kidneys are the most needed organ in BC with more than 500 people this month on the waiting list for a new one. 

Unless a family member or a close friend is a match and can donate a kidney, the wait can be nearly 5 years for a patient. While waiting to get the call for a new kidney, most would go through dialysis which does many things like removing waste, salt and extra water in the body to prevent them from building up. This is a long, draining process and kidney patient Paul Duperron says going through dialysis is a big part of the battle, both mentally and physically. 

“It’s easy when you’re tired to go home and stay home, and then you kind of go on a bit of a downhill and you lose your quality of life so you really have to be strong I think to really keep going and want to keep going.”

Finding a living donor at an early stage of a kidney disease may allow the patient to avoid dialysis completely. Although the goal is finding a new kidney to replace a failed one, a transplant is not a cure. There is no cure for a kidney disease yet and going through a kidney transplant is just part of the fight.

Boogie The Bridge

Boogie The Bridge Event Information

7h ago

Two and Out

PETERS: The Loop's eviction will show us what happens when a bandage is ripped off a gaping wound

4h ago

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: 'Fairness' is not a word I would use to describe the federal budget

11h ago

On Sunday the annual Kidney Walk will be held in the new location of AimHigh. It will start with registration in the gymnasium at 1 pm and the walk will begin at 2 just behind the building. The money raised at the walk will help financially support those who have to travel to Vancouver for their transplant.