The number 13 is often considered an unlucky number, but for at least one family it’s nothing of the kind.
“It was the 13th of May that we had the surgery, and it was 13 months from the time that I started testing to when the surgery was done. And it’s 2013. So, for us, 13 is a very lucky number,” said kidney donor Carol Meilleur, whose gift saved the life of Ladner resident Gord Johnson.
Meilleur, from Cloverdale, didn’t even know Johnson until she came across a Facebook campaign called “Are you an O?”, referring to the blood type needed to donate a kidney.
The campaign was created by Johnson’s wife, Michelle Laviolette, in March 2012 after growing frustration over the difficulty of finding a donor. Johnson’s kidney failure began in October 2007, when streptococcus bacteria from his hockey gloves got into his bloodstream through a cut on his wrist.
After six years of poor health, Johnson is facing a new life that he compares to being let out of prison.
“You feel more in control of your body, your brain, everything is improved,” he said, adding he was recently able to enjoy his first glass of wine in six years.
Laviolette said it’s a relief to be able to take the dialysis machine and medical equipment out of her house.
“It’s absolutely incredible and, you know what, he looks so much different,” she said. “He looks so healthy now.”
Meilleur said she was prepared for the idea of surgery because she’d undergone a cesarean section during the delivery of her child, but she’d never gone under general anesthetic before.
“That made me very nauseous and sick,” she said, but added that soon wore off. Now she’s taking it easy, just like Johnson.
“Recovering from surgery feels a bit like you got into a street brawl and lost,” said Johnson, laughing. “You feel achey all over. But as that wears off it’s a huge change.”
Johnson goes to the Vancouver General Hospital transplant clinic twice a week to get the new kidney checked regularly and all tests have so far showed things are functioning normally. Eventually, he will get to the point where he only has to visit B.C. Transplant once every three months, but for now it’s important to take every precaution.
“It’s quite amazing how our bodies work and how my kidney started working right away for Gord,” said Meilleur.
For now, Johnson is taking anti-rejection medication so the kidney will be accepted by the body as a healthy and functioning organ.
Johnson said the whole experience is sometimes too surreal to believe when he thinks back to his darkest hours.
“You don’t think a person like Carol is going to come along in the way that she did,” he said. “It’s just completely everything, you feel like you’ve got your life back.”
Johnson said being on dialysis felt like being on a clock with time running out. But thanks to Meilleur, that feeling is gone.
“It’s just a really great feeling that we live in a community who will, when you don’t really think you have any support, there’s a lot of it out there and it really showed up when we asked for it. It was amazing.”
Laviolette said her husband is looking to get back in shape playing his favourite sport, which was the one that made him sick in the first place.
“He’ll be on the ice in September, there’s no doubt about it,” said Laviolette, laughing heartily. “He’s really looking forward to it.”