Worth the risk

[okarol]

Worth the risk
Nola Johnson was only 15 when she decided to donate a kidney to her twin 50 years ago.

Patrick Dare, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Monday, April 28, 2008

Fifty years ago, Dr. John Dossetor took a chance by organizing the first living kidney transplant in the Commonwealth.

Yesterday, with the donor alive and living in Kanata, he could confidently report that the decision had been the right one.

It was on a weekend in March 1958 that Dr. Dossetor, a young teaching fellow from England who was at McGill University, got a weekend call about a 15-year-old girl who had been admitted to the Royal Victoria Hospital with convulsions and high blood pressure.

Moira Johnson was suffering from kidney failure.

"Her life was in serious jeopardy," says Dr. Dossetor, who now lives in Ottawa. "She was just teetering."

Moira had a twin sister, Nola, who decided, after reading a story in the Montreal Star about kidney transplantation being pioneered in the United States, that she would donate one of her kidneys to her sister.

The donation would be a good match medically, but this was completely new ground in Canada.

The Montreal team suggested the Johnsons go to Boston, but the family -- including six children -- wanted the Montreal hospital to do the operation.

Yesterday, Dr. Dossetor stood in the sunshine with Nola Johnson at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Orléans, where the two joined the Living Green Ribbon event, at which organ donors and recipients formed the shape of a green ribbon, the international symbol for organ and tissue donation.

Ms. Johnson said her sister lived 16 years with the transplanted kidney before having to go on dialysis in 1974. She later developed cancer and died in 1987.

"For 16 years, she had a very healthy life," Ms. Johnson said yesterday. "We were very close. I think we were even closer after the transplant."

The 1958 transplant was a bold medical move. The hospital had to go to family court to get the teenaged donor's consent confirmed. At the time, doctors really didn't know what the long-term health consequences for the donors would be.

Ms. Johnson said while she has recently had some problems with her remaining kidney, "I've had a very healthy life."

The Oxford-educated Dr. Dossetor recalled that, "We didn't quite know what to do," so they assembled a team, transplanted the kidney and watched in amazement as Moira passed 11.5 litres of urine in the first 24 hours. "It was a most astonishing event."

Dr. Dossetor, who is nearing his 83rd birthday, went on to become a pioneer in the field

of kidney disease, dialysis and transplantation in Canada, then an expert in medical ethics.

Such bold medical work has saved thousands of Canadians, but limited awareness about organ donation is an ongoing problem.

At an ecumenical ceremony at the church yesterday, 14 people stood with candles in their hands and blew them out one by one, in memory of the 14 patients who died in Canada in April while waiting for an organ transplant.

A framed picture of George Jaoude, who died while waiting for a heart transplant, was placed on the altar. David MacAdam, who had an unsuccessful heart transplant in 1999 and then a successful transplant in 2000 at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, sang hymns.

In an interview, Dr. Dossetor said while there have been huge strides in organ transplantation, he is surprised and disappointed that the donation of organs after death hasn't become the norm in Canada. Such donations for organ transplants are only possible in about one per cent of hospital deaths in Canada and about half of the families in those situations have been refusing to consent.

Donations from living donors, which is possible for kidney and liver transplants, are a great area for growth in transplantation, and donors who spoke at the ecumenical service said it's the right thing to do.

Gerry Doyle said that by giving one of his kidneys to his cousin in 2005, he was saving her from five-hour dialysis treatments and saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He noted there are about 700 people on dialysis in the Ottawa region.

Trina Morissette, a young lawyer and politician who gave part of her liver to her mother in March 2006, said her liver quickly grew back and the operation that saved her mother simply meant putting her life on hold for a while.

She urged others to consider donating. "Don't let fear get the best of you."

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