Mother’s kidneys failing
Photo: Lyndsay Richholt
The 42-year-old mom, wife, daughter and sister is in dire need of a liver transplant. She was diagnosed 18 years ago, with Autoimmune Hepatitis, a condition where the immune system attacks the liver leading to inflammation and swelling. It is a lifelong chronic condition which can lead to worsened conditions such as cirrhosis. The latter of which is something she’s currently dealing with.
A Kelowna woman awaiting a life-saving liver transplant has now entered the hospital with kidney failure.
Lyndsay Richholt, 42, is in end-stage liver failure and was expecting a transplant to arrive last month after months of public advocacy.
As she’s waited her condition has continued to deteriorate and, according to MLA Kristina Loewen, it worsened Tuesday.
“She did some blood work and the results came back that she’s in acute kidney failure,” Loewen said.
“As of 11 a.m. this morning, she was on her way to the ER, so I guess we’ll find out more. Obviously, I’m concerned that she’s not going to be able to go through a surgery. I don’t know what the threshold is for that.”
In January, Richholt was told she would be getting a life-saving transplant within a week. Three weeks passed, and her condition worsened. She’s not heard why the transplant didn’t happen when it was expected or what the new timeline might look like.
Loewen said she’s deeply frustrated by the situation and there needs to be broader changes to the system that “has failed Lindsay in at least four ways.”
“The MELD scoring system does not work for Lindsay’s case,” Loewen said, referring to the system used to rank the need for transplants. Richholt has said that her underlying condition did not place her high enough on the transplant list, despite her need.
“The system forgot about her for eight months when they’re supposed to communicate with her every three to four months,” Loewen said.
“They, in error, told her last summer that they could not approve live donors who weren’t related to her or associated with her. And now they’re failing to communicate with her.”
Family and friends’ attempts to advocate on her behalf have also been met with roadblocks, something Loewen said she experienced firsthand.
“We get a hand slap saying don’t reach out to us. Don’t call us, we’ll call you,” Loewen said. “It’s insulting.”
Despite these setbacks, Loewen remains committed to advocating for Richholt.
“I really want Lindsay just to get a liver and to live a healthy life, for herself, her husband and her son, and her best friends—they’re cheering her on. They are advocating for her. She needs this, and she needs it today,” she said.
“I want to see our system start working for people, because Lindsay is only one example. This is happening to many more people who don’t have the amount of advocacy that Lindsay has. They are dying while waiting,” she said.
Richholt has long suffered from advanced autoimmune hepatitis, which in recent years has caused her liver to fail. Last spring, doctors told her she had as little as six months to live without a transplant.
Loewen encouraged people who would like to see change to write the ministry of health and BC Transplant with their concerns.
