This isn’t a plea for a new boyfriend.  It’s a heartfelt hope that the as-yet-unknown person whose blood type is just right for my friend will come forward for testing. I tried and was not the perfect match. Maybe you are.

For Teresa Atkinson, being a great fighter isn’t always a plus.  I’ve known Teresa for over 10 years and since our first meeting at The Kidney Foundation where I worked and she volunteered, I was struck by her ability to overcome obstacles, fight back when things or situations needed changing, and strategize solutions to problems.  A tireless worker on any committee she joins, she is also lots of fun to work and be with – all while enduring the many challenges of being a kidney dialysis patient.  Teresa was one of the first in BC to train for home dialysis and for the past decade her bedtime routine includes face washing, teeth cleaning and night dialyzing – a system whereby she hooks herself up to a dialysis machine that cleanses her blood overnight while she sleeps.

But for Teresa, it’s time to get off dialysis and receive a new kidney. Her system is having problems handling the challenges of ongoing dialysis.  Unfortunately her great fighting ability comes from more than just her positive spirit.  It’s also in the blood –and for a transplant hopeful, that’s not good news.  Teresa’s antibodies, her system’s fighters, are too plentiful and too efficient.

According to Wikipedia, the world’s new dictionary for everything, antibodies in the blood identify and neutralize foreign objects such as bacteria and viruses.  The problem is, antibodies also identify and neutralize (reject) other foreign objects – such as donated and transplanted organs, like kidneys.

The anti-rejection drugs that transplant patients take daily for the rest of their lives usually work well to “fool” the recipient’s antibodies into thinking the new organs are good guys that don’t need to be rejected.  But for people like Teresa who have an excess of antibodies, it’s more challenging. The need to find a donor whose blood is a perfect match for hers is imperative.  It can be done.  It has been done.  But it takes longer.

I had hoped to be that person.  When I saw on her Facebook page that Teresa was searching for a kidney donor I immediately wanted to help.  I knew from my work at The Kidney Foundation that people don’t need two kidneys and that following surgery a living kidney donor goes right back to normal life never noticing that one kidney is gone.  I also knew from knowing and working with Teresa that I wanted to try to be her donor.  Unfortunately I am not the perfect match.  After only two trips to the lab for blood tests it was determined that a kidney from my body would not meet Teresa’s needs.

Teresa needs a new kidney.  I ask that everyone who knows her, loves her and wants to help her gets tested.  The perfect match is out there.  Maybe it’s you.  To find out, call the Pre-Assessment Transplant Clinic at Vancouver General Hospital, 604-875-5182.