“If I had to, I’d do it over again,” says Glenn Ferro about being a living kidney donor. The 61-year-old Ferro, who works as a screener at Kamloops Airport (“I’m the one who takes away your liquids,” he jokes), donated a kidney to a long-time friend and former co-worker in 2009, and has never regretted it.
“I’d known Bob since I was 19 and started working with him at the Bank of Montreal in downtown Vancouver,” says Ferro. When Bob was in his late 20s or early 30s he developed a virus that affected his kidneys, and left them functioning at about 40 per cent.
Around 2005 Bob visited his parents, who were then living in Kamloops. “Someone said he looked really yellow, really jaundiced,” says Ferro. Bob, who wasn’t feeling well, went to the hospital, and was told that his kidneys had shut down.
“Bob told me this, and within 30 seconds I said I’d go for a test [to see if I was a match],” says Ferro. “Usually only family members match, but I went through the tests and found I was a match.
Ferro says it was close to four years between the time he found out he was a match and the transplant surgery, which took place on February 25, 2009. “I let everyone know at the start of the process, and then went for psychological assessments. A few friends, and my brother, thought I was crazy.
“I can understand where people come from. It’s major surgery, and people don’t hear a lot about it. But the doctors assured me that people can lead a healthy life with one kidney.”
He says that there were tests and assessments throughout the period leading up to the surgery, and he was in constant contact with people in Vancouver, including doctors, kidney specialists, and a transplant coordinator. “They ask you about what support you have, what people think about [the decision], and they assess you: are you talking positively, and do you have a support group of family or friends?”
There were also opportunities for him to change his mind; but Ferro says that the only time he really thought about that was on the morning of the surgery.
“I had to be at the hospital at 7 a.m., and around 4:30 or 5 a.m. I woke up and thought ‘Am I doing the right thing?’ There was a bit of a delay with the surgery, but they did me, and then they did Bob at about 1 p.m. I felt fine, and they wanted me to go home the next day [Thursday], but I stayed until Saturday.”
He says he had no pain whatsoever, and was walking around the morning after the surgery, but that he needed to have someone take care of him for several weeks after he got home. “You can’t lift anything, and you can’t drive for a month.”
He was in contact with a lady in Vancouver who was able to answer questions, but said he was a bit frustrated by the lack of advice about post-surgery diet. “You have to watch your diet, things like protein and potassium levels, and you can’t have certain herbs, and not as much red meat. I told her they needed to let people know beforehand about this, and she said there was no funding for it. I told her they needed to work on this.”
He receives a requisition once a year for blood work, and told everyone that if they wanted him to talk to people about his experience, he would. He notes that although he had little pain afterward, everyone’s body is different, and everyone’s reactions will be different.
While living kidney donors go to the top of the transplant list if they need their remaining kidney replaced, Ferro says that it’s always on his mind, particularly if he gets a backache. “The worst thing you can do when that happens is go on the Internet and look up your symptoms,” he laughs.
He says that when he told Bob about his decision to donate a kidney, his friend was very, very grateful. “He started to cry, and got very emotional. We don’t talk all the time, but that doesn’t matter to me. In my mind I did what I thought was right. And I told him ‘I have to be clear; you have to promise me that you don’t owe me a single thing. You don’t have to feel obligated.’ I helped someone out.”
Now, almost eight years later, he says it’s pretty much life as before. “They did tell me that on occasion the kidney does compensate by enlarging a bit. The two most important things are blood pressure and diabetes.”
Ferro says that Bob had a lot of health problems before the transplant. “If he hadn’t made it, I would probably still have gone through with [the donation]. I did it for three reasons: because of Bob; because of my personal beliefs and faith; and to help out another person.”