B.C. woman hopes to exchange kidney on internet

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B.C. woman hopes to exchange kidney on internet

Last Updated: Friday, June 27, 2008 | 11:08 PM ET
CBC News

A B.C. woman has turned to the internet in the hope of arranging a kidney swap to aid her ailing husband.

Because their blood type doesn't match, Lois Wilson can't give her husband Dave one of her own kidneys.

A family friend suggested Wilson turn to the internet for help. She decided to post an ad on Craigslist, the enormous online classified ad site.

"It's body parts but I'm not selling them," Wilson told CBC News. "I wrote: 'My husband needs a kidney and I have O negative blood. If you have A positive [and need a kidney for an O negative person] I'm willing to trade.'"

Dave Wilson admitted the move was unusual, but said he is desperate.

"We'll try anything," he said. "The problem with transplants is there is a seven-year waiting list. I'm 70 now. By 77 I might not be around."

According to the Kidney Foundation of Canada, there are more than 30,000 Canadians who require dialysis or are waiting for a kidney transplant.

Canada ranks thirteenth in the world when it comes to organ-donation from deceased donors, with about 13 people per million donating organs after death, according to the foundation.

However, Canada ranks fourth when it comes to live donor transplants, with12 people in a million donating organs each year.

While Lois Wilson's approach to finding a live donor may seem a little unorthodox, a transplant expert said it is not unique.

"She's not really doing anything illegal — there's already a process in place," said Ken Donohue with the B.C. Transplant Agency.

British Columbia and Ontario have a program called the Paired-Kidney-Exchange program, in which spouses can swap a kidney with another spouse who is a match.

"You have an incompatible partner somewhere out there and someone else has one too and we put the data in," Donohue said.

However, the odds of success remain slim, Donohue said. To date, the program has only led to three matches in B.C.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/06/27/bc-organ-exchange-craigslist.html?ref=rss