Couple takes kidney cause to heart

[okarol]

Couple takes kidney cause to heart

By Wanda Chow - Burnaby NewsLeader
Published: July 27, 2010 9:00 AM
Updated: July 27, 2010 10:05 AM

Verna Yochlowitz admits to being in denial at first.

“I thought they got it wrong.”

In hindsight, she’d been suffering symptoms for some time–being frequently thirsty, often feeling really tired, having little appetite, suddenly gaining 10 pounds very quickly.

At the time, she thought she was just out of shape and in need of exercise.

But after moving to a new community, Verna found a new family doctor who put her through a routine full physical.

She was 26 and her life was about to change dramatically.

Tests found protein in her urine, an indication of a kidney disorder. A nephrologist confirmed she had kidney disease, and that parts of her kidneys had hardened and shrunken.

“They thought [the organs] might have 10 years left,” Verna recalled. “I only ended up with one-and-a-half years left.”

That’s when it was determined drug treatments were ineffective and she’d have to go on dialysis. For a year and a half, she endured exhausting four-hour dialysis sessions three times a week to clear her body of toxins, something her kidneys could no longer do for her.

The disease was painful. She couldn’t sleep at night due to restlessness in her legs and she couldn’t walk far before her whole body would start tingling and cramping.

By then, Verna was engaged to her longtime boyfriend David Yochlowitz. Seeing the dialysis’ draining effect on her, he recalled, “She couldn’t do that forever, that was probably the scariest part.”

When the doctors broke the news that she needed a kidney transplant, one of her sisters was the first to be tested. Despite being related and of the same Asian heritage, she wasn’t a match.

David offered to get tested. He proved to be a match and had no qualms about acting as an organ donor.

“He was very easygoing about it,” Verna, now 40, recalled with a laugh. “He said, ‘I have two, you can have one.’”

So in October 1999, one month after they were married, David gave his wife more than just a kidney. He gave her a new life.

Organ donor push

Every day 14 Canadians find out they have chronic kidney disease,” said Pia Schindler, director of development for the B.C. branch of the Kidney Foundation of Canada.

In B.C., one in 30 British Columbians develop it; 145,000 already have it, although most don’t know it because its symptoms are usually silent or vague.

And while some can successfully combat chronic kidney disease with lifestyle and diet changes, for others it progresses to a need for dialysis and eventually a transplant.

Sadly, in 2008, 215 Canadians died waiting for an organ transplant, Schindler said.

Meanwhile, only 17 per cent of British Columbians are registered as organ donors. That’s something the Yochlowitzes hope to change.

David Yochlowitz is CEO of ABC Recycling, the fourth generation of his family to join the metal recycling business. The company, headquartered in South Burnaby’s Big Bend, operates the Kidney Car program, in which people donate their junk and unused cars in exchange for a tax receipt for the value of the salvageable and recyclable materials, or in some cases, what they sell for at auction. The revenue generated from selling the metals, car parts and the like nets the foundation’s B.C. branch around $300,000 annually.

“We said, ‘why just stop at cars? They’re just a small percentage of the metals out there,’” said David.

The company has recently partnered with the foundation on the Kidney Metals program. Companies are asked to donate all or a portion of the waste metals they produce, which ABC Recycling then collects and sells with the proceeds passed on to the foundation.

They’re also in the early stages of a similar program involving household metals in hopes that people will donate everything from old unused ladders to barbecues which may be nothing more than backyard clutter.

A new life

For Verna, it didn’t take long for her to feel the effects of the kidney transplant.

“It does feel like a new life. Your energy level goes so much higher.”

Within a month, she was rearranging furniture around the house.

David’s recovery was quicker than most living organ donors. He was back at work less than three weeks after the surgery.

They’re now the proud parents of seven-year-old Chloe and two-year-old Ryan and are doing their part to raise awareness of the work of the Kidney Foundation and the importance of organ donations.

“You don’t really pay attention until it affects a loved one or a friend,” Verna said.

David, 44, notes that the average lifespan of an organ transplant is 10 to 20 years, so the reality is that Verna will need another kidney unless advances are made in drugs and treatments for the disease.

“My wife’s kidney won’t last forever, so we have vested interests in keeping the organ donor registry increasing,” David said.

In the meantime, the family counts its blessings. They’re both healthy and they have two great kids.

“We want to give back any way we can.”

Info: kidney.ca, recycleforlife.ca and transplant.bc.ca.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/burnabynewsleader/news/99325779.html