Standingready waits for new kidney

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This article was published 21/03/2019 (2399 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BIRDTAIL SIOUX FIRST NATION— Living with a ticking time bomb for the past seven years, Donovan Standingready hopes his dialysis treatments will be enough to keep him alive until he receives a kidney transplant.

“It’s really frustrating,” Donovan said. “It gets overwhelming.”

Born with chronic kidney disease, he was told he would most likely need a kidney transplant by the time he was 30.

Donovan just turned 31 and is in the midst of that worst-case scenario, with medical professionals giving him a year to life if he does not receive the new organ.

“It seems like it would be easy to find someone to donate a kidney, but it’s really hard,” Donovan said.

On dialysis for the past seven years waiting for a new kidney, the process has been time-consuming and both emotionally and financially draining.

There was a light at the end of the tunnel in December when a donor had been lined up, but that light was snuffed out when the operation fell through at the last minute.

“It was actually heart-wrenching,” Donovan said. “We were set, we’ve been waiting so long.”

Donovan’s brother-in-law has since stepped up to donate a kidney and the duo will be visiting a specialist on Monday to find out if the two are compatible.

If it’s a match, the operation will take place sometime before May, but Donovan said every second remains critical.

Meanwhile, he is joining his family in waiting on a call from the hospital, ready to head out to Winnipeg at a moment’s notice in the event a kidney becomes available.

His condition emerged soon after he wed his wife Alannah seven years ago. While on a trip down to Winona, Minn. Donovan became very ill, displaying flu-like symptoms.

At first, they thought he had a case of food poisoning, but the symptoms refused to abate.

When they arrived back in Canada, he immediately went to see a doctor in Winnipeg, where it was discovered he was suffering from kidney failure and was soon placed on his first dialysis machine, a process that has become a daily routine during the seven years that followed.

It has taken a significant toll on Donovan’s body.

His arm is riddled with scars from repeated needle insertions from his home dialysis machine. The veins travelling along his upper arm are visibly strong, a result of the years of being repeatedly worked.

“I can’t live without (dialysis), but it’s also killing me,” Donovan said. “Your body is fading, your bones hurt, your joints hurt, your everything hurts.”

The average annual mortality rate of someone on dialysis is 20 per cent, Kidney Foundation Westman regional co-ordinator Lisa Edwardson said.

“It’s pretty significant, especially when you’re waiting over five years for a transplant,” Edwardson said.

It takes about seven hours to prepare the machine with the water bath needed to help clean Donovan’s blood, and then eight hours of him being attached to the machine while he sleeps.

“It cleans all your blood, so that includes all the good stuff that you need, too,” Alannah said. “It takes a pretty big toll on you.”

Looking at an old photograph, Alannah said that one one can barely recognize Donovan as he is today because the treatments have slowly worn his body down.

A child development worker, a father to four kids and uncle to various nieces and nephews, the Standingready house is alive with bouncing babies and teenagers, and it can be hard for him to keep up on his more difficult health days.

More than 1,800 Manitobans live with kidney failure.

That number has continued to increase by 68 per cent between 2012 and 2024, Edwardson said — largely brought on by rising rates of diabetes and high blood pressure.

It takes an average of approximately 5.7 years to receive a transplant, but it can take more than eight years under certain circumstances.

Donovan typically travels twice a month to Winnipeg for treatments, although if anything happens to his home dialysis machine, his family is forced to make the four-hour drive to Winnipeg regardless of the road conditions.

One such emergency arose recently when water was unexpectedly shut off in Birdtail, rendering his home dialysis machine useless.

In the emergency run to Winnipeg, Donovan felt his tongue going numb, a sign of approaching heart failure.

They arrived at the hospital in the nick of time.

Donovan hopes that those who hear his story will be more open to donating organs to help save a life.

“I wish there was way more people who were open to donating,” Donovan said.

Edwardson recommends talking with friends and family about becoming an organ donor and signing up to be a donor at signupforlife.ca.

Hoping that his days of patiently waiting for the transplant that will save his life will soon come to an end, Donovan and Alannah plan to travel the continent with their kids showing them the world and embracing every opportunity that comes their way.

Even if a new kidney remains elusive, Donovan said he is ready to place his dialysis machine in a trailer and bring it with them.

“The way I see it, you’re not promised every day, dialysis or not.”

» ckemp@brandonsun.com

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