VANCOUVER: 1,000 patients in Canada have received kidney transplants thanks to the kidney exchange program led by Canadian Blood Services, in collaboration with Vancouver Coastal Health, Providence Health, and living donation and transplant programs across Canada.
Husband and wife, Devan and Mandeep Grewal are one such pair who participated in this program. When Devan needed a kidney transplant, Mandeep donated hers to an anonymous recipient, completing a chain that brought Devan his when he underwent surgery at Vancouver General Hospital.
Launched in 2009 by Canadian Blood Services, the national KPD program matches suitable living donors to recipients across Canada. The program offers living kidney donors the possibility of helping someone they know, or even someone they don’t, receive a kidney transplant, even if they are not a match to the person they are trying to help.
Using a sophisticated matching algorithm, the program identifies compatible transplant opportunities created through chains of paired donations from otherwise incompatible pairs. These chains are also made possible thanks to non-directed anonymous donors (willing living donors without a specific intended recipient).
“The support of the kidney paired donation program, along with the selfless acts of donors, has granted me a second chance at life—a life where I can continue to pursue my passions for sports and travel,” says Devan Grewal, “This program changed my life and I am so thankful.”
“I am forever grateful to the kidney paired donation program and the anonymous recipient of my kidney,” adds Mandeep Grewal. “Without this incredible program, the vital link in this chain of giving may not have led to my husband receiving the precious gift of life.”
These transplants, facilitated through the Kidney Paired Donation (KPD) program, represent 1,000 people whose lives have been saved or forever changed by the gift of organ donation. The KPD program connects living donor programs across the country, enabling them to achieve together what no jurisdiction can do exclusively on its own.
“The program has enabled 1,000 heroes to gift the live-saving gift of a kidney transplant,” says Dr. John Gill, transplant nephrologist at St. Paul’s Hospital who helped advance the KPD. “That is truly something worth celebrating.”
Dr. Jagbir Gill, physician lead for renal transplant at St. Paul’s Hospital, adds, “Between Vancouver General Hospital and St. Paul’s Hospital, we have performed 279 transplants as part of the KPD program. “Some of these patients had been on the transplant list for over three years, waiting for a match. This program is live-saving resource for patients.”
