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Fifty years after a risky and at the time uncommon procedure gave her a new chance to live, 75-year-old Aylmer resident Mary Ann Crossett hasn’t stopped being grateful.
This week, she celebrated the anniversary of the work of well-trained and ambitious doctors – and the sacrifice made by her very own sister – to give her a healthy kidney in one of the first procedures of its kind in the London Health Sciences Centre’s (LHSC) history.
Doctors say the fact that she’s still alive to reflect on it today is a feat in itself, and one that an LHSC doctor said could make her one of the longest living kidney transplant recipients in Canada.
“I’m enjoying every single day,” said Crossett. “I don’t know how I got so lucky. Thank God I’m alive in this era. 25 years earlier, I probably wouldn’t have survived.”
Crossett said problems with her kidneys first arose when she was 16 years old, when test results showed abnormally high protein levels in her urine. Later, it was revealed a birth defect doctors hadn’t detected prior caused chronic nephritis, and surgery to rectify the issue didn’t help.
Come 1974, her kidneys shut down and she began dialysis the following year.
“I wasn’t on dialysis a long time, but it is a painful way to carry on life,” she said.
It just so happened that in 1975, LHSC was in the process of introducing living donation to its transplant program – something that, despite the risks, her sister Margaret Reardon volunteered for.
At the time, living kidney transplants were not only uncommon, but they were risky.
That didn’t stop Reardon, especially after the sisters learned they were almost a perfect match.
On November 19, 1975, both Mary Ann and Margaret underwent life-changing same-day surgeries.
She said that the transplant strengthened the already strong bond the sisters share.
“After that, I would dare anyone to try and break us apart,” Crossett said.
And in the following days, weeks, months and years, as Crossett watched the jaundice leave her skin, and her energy, confidence and health return, she found herself unable to stop feeling thankful.
Dr. Lakshman Gunaratnam, the medical co-director for LHSC’s multi-organ transplant program, said giving up a part of yourself to save someone else is difficult.
“This is the ultimate sacrifice, but it’s also the ultimate gift,” said Gunaratnam.
As for the result, he called it remarkable.
“To be able to celebrate a transplant that lasted 50 years tells us that as a field, we’re doing something right.”
According to Gunaratnam, the median length of time a transplanted kidney can survive in someone’s body is roughly 18 years.
“It would be in the top one to five per cent of kidneys. This might be the longest lasting living donor transplant in Canada, maybe around the world,” the doctor said.
Since her sister saved her life and gave her the care she needed all those years ago, Crossett is returning the favour these days.
Reardon suffers from early-onset dementia, and Crossett has done her best to support her.
While she continues to count her blessings, Crossett said she hopes to encourage people who are willing to take the plunge and save a life by being open to donating.
“I would say, don’t worry about being a donor,” she said. “If you have a question, ask it. If you have a fear, voice it, and [hospital staff] will come to your aid.”
