MacNeill getting the ultimate gift from her aunt; kidney transplant set for April

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This article was published 21/03/2018 (2731 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Eleven months after Shandra MacNeill put out a public plea for a living kidney donor, she has found a match.

MacNeill’s aunt, Barb Reid, has volunteered to give the ultimate gift. After countless tests, she has been deemed a suitable donor and a transplant date is set for April 12.

“I feel very lucky that I can do this for her,” Reid said. “I guess I’m proud of it, but I feel more lucky than anything.”

Reid, a business owner in Prince Albert, Sask., decided to step up after it was determined that other relatives were not a suitable match.

“It suddenly occurred to me, well, why don’t I get tested?” Reid said. That prompted a period of testing, which spanned over the past year. Most of the tests are to determine that the donor is fit to donate, physically and mentally.

When MacNeill got the call that she had been hoping for, she said she immediately felt lighter.

“And less burdened by the question of whether it was going to happen, and now we just get to plan for this happening and the possibility that things may be fine,” MacNeill said. “We have a long ways to go yet, but at least it’s a step towards the possibly of things working out, and yeah, that’s kind of amazing.”

Her dire situation was documented in a Brandon Sun story, published last April. At that point, she was in a race against time to find a living kidney donor. Her kidney function was down to eight per cent and was in Stage 5 kidney failure.

The response she received following the article was “overwhelming.”

“I really underestimated how much people cared,” she said.

MacNeill is well-known in the local arts community, and has served as artistic director of the Brandon Folk, Music and Art Festival since 2009. Due to her declining health, she had to step back from some of her duties for the 2017 festival.

Festival volunteers contacted her, asking what they could do to help, along with relatives and people she hadn’t even met.

“It just kind of reminds you that people are good and they’re capable of being empathetic to complete strangers,” she said. “I just want to thank all those people for reaching out, even if it was just to say, ‘I’m not an O (blood type), but my sister had a kidney transplant and she’s been alive for 40 more years.’”

MacNeill said these types of messages helped her through some difficult moments.

“It’s hard to really keep your feelings in a good place, through something like this … It really helped, and so I thank them, and I hope that the next person who goes through this has the same kind of support.”

The major factor in MacNeill’s kidney problems is a severe form of diabetes, which she was diagnosed with as a child. Her body does not respond to insulin consistently, a condition known as brittle diabetes. It has put a lot of pressure on her kidneys and over a period of time, has caused them to fail.

MacNeill lives in Winnipeg to be closer to her medical team. She started dialysis last June, which she goes to three times per week.

The past year has been a challenge, to say the least, but fortunately MacNeill has a supportive family and close friends helping her through.

“My mom and dad, the wonderful humans they are, they come into Winnipeg and they’re here almost all the time,” she said. “My close friends have sort of a revolving schedule that they’ve made … because if I had to do all the normal things a person has to do in a day to take care of themselves, yeah, I’d probably end up in the hospital.”

Thanks to the dialysis, she is experiencing fewer kidney failure symptoms. However, they have been replaced by other issues.

“Your stomach is very unhappy with you all the time, there’s nausea and stomach problems and appetite problems, and dizziness. So it’s kind of replaced by other problems,” she said.

During her lengthy dialysis treatments, MacNeill has used the time to work on her art. She has a show scheduled at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba next December, which has given her something to work toward and a goal to look forward to.

Called “There is Always a Hunter,” MacNeill’s show will feature needlework, sculpting, knot tying and doll making. The installation begins with a story of her grandmother and great-aunt who were brought from Romania and left in a convent in rural Saskatchewan as young girls.

MacNeill said it has been an “amazing opportunity” to be able to look past her current situation and envision her future art installation.

Shandra’s mother, Marilyn MacNeill, said it has been difficult to watch her daughter get weaker and weaker through dialysis.

“Her life is controlled by this machine that she’s attached to every second day. I think emotionally that’s very difficult, because she’s a strong, independent character,” she said.

Marilyn said her sister Barb is her “hero” for stepping up the way she has.

“She’s my baby sister, she’s pretty awesome,” she said.

Marilyn said the family is happy there is finally a transplant date — the “light at the end of the tunnel.”

“You try not to get too excited because there are so many things that can still go wrong, but we’re very hopeful.”

According to Transplant Manitoba, there were 33 living kidney donor transplants in 2017, and 25 in 2016.

The operation takes about four hours, and risk of complication for the donor is approximately five per cent.

For the recipient, the transplant is usually successful, however there are no guarantees. On average, the new kidney will last 20 years, but some will last more than 40, and others only a few years. The recipient will take anti-rejection medication for as long as they have the kidney.

» jaustin@brandonsun.com

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