Donor candidate turned down for depression risk

[okarol]

 Brampton woman, 29, needs kidney transplant
Donor candidate turned down for depression risk
Tuesday December 2 2008
By PETER CRISCIONE

There is nothing more Brampton resident Erin Botelho wants than to give good friend and roommate Jennifer Bell her kidney.

Physically, she is an ideal candidate for an organ transplant.

But having suffered a great deal of personal anguish in her life, doctors have ruled Botelho out on an emotional level.

That means Bell, 29, is left hoping for a miracle as time ticks down on her failing health.

"Jen needs to get this transplant," said Botelho, 38, who lives with Bell in the area of Bovaird Drive and Sandalwood Parkway. "If she doesn't get her transplant, she's going to die."

People have two kidneys but technically only need one to live.

One of Bell's kidneys did not develop as she aged and the other can no longer perform day-to-day functions.

As a result, Bell, who is a single mother, has seen her health deteriorate.

Julie Shaw, a healthcare worker at Mississauga's Credit Valley Hospital, has helped Bell with dialysis treatments.

She said Bell has to undergo an extensive regimen at home every day.

Five times a day, Bell attaches a catheter to her peritoneal cavity (abdominal area) to clean out all the toxins that build up in her body.

This process takes about 30 to 40 minutes each time.

"A kidney transplant is one of the treatments for kidney failure," Shaw said.

Bell could put her name on an organ donor waiting list, but said doctors have advised her it could take years before she can get a new kidney.

"The waiting list for a living donor is 10 years or more," said Bell, whose father also underwent a kidney transplant several years back. "I am hoping to be able to have my transplant to live."

Botelho explained she was deemed a match physically and that nephrologists at Toronto General had advised her they would take her left kidney.

However, when scrutinized further by health professionals Botelho hit a roadblock.

A few years ago, several members of Botelho's family, including her young daughter, died within a few months of each other.

Botelho sank into depression and the medical team that reviewed her as a possible donor deemed she is too great a risk emotionally to give up an organ.

After an organ donation some donors experience depression or a greater sensitivity to emotions.

Depression can result from either emotional stress and/or physical factors associated with the operation.

"They (doctors) said I may not be able to cope with the loss (of my kidney)," Botelho said. "But I can. Jennifer needs this."

Last week, Bell and Botelho visited Toronto General to plead their case with doctors.

Bell said she gets emotional when thinking about all the effort her friend has put into this.

"To know that all that matters to her is for me to live, to be able to take care of my (five-year-old) son, it gets me very emotional," Bell said.

http://www.northpeel.com/news/article/61464

[Chris]

Not sure if the doctors are right about this, what is your opinion?

One part of me says go to another center and lie, but then again, could the doctors be right.

[jbeany]

I don't think they give us enough info to really decide if we agree or not.  She suffered from depression after the loss of her daughter and family members - okay.  But they don't really tell you how bad it was.  Was she just mildly depressed, and went to a grief counselor?   That seems perfectly normal to me under the circumstances. Was she on meds along with talk therapy?  Was she suicidal? Hospitalized in an institution?  If it was the first one - just needed grief counseling - then i would be willing to let her donate.  Even someone who needed meds after that kind of a loss probably would be okay to donate.  But if it was something more serious than that, then I'd have to agree with the transplant docs.

[monrein]

I know the team at the Toronto General, as that is my hospital also.  The one thing that really consoles me about the testing they do is that it feels very clear to me that they do a good job of protecting the donor's interests, separate and apart from those of the recipient.  I hope that pleading her case for donation will work but I do have faith in the various disciplines that work together to do these assessments.  My sister-in-law has just completed this process at TGH.   I worry far more about her than I do me and I'm reassured by the knowledge that she has her own team who don't even know me so there is no conflict of interest for them.

[okarol]

I would worry more about someone who WASN'T depressed after such a huge loss.

[Run8]

really