Looking for a live donor
Kevin Clements, who is heading to Toronto in April, is hoping his brother will be a good medical match
MONTROSE – Brothers Kevin and Carl Clements may soon share a liver.
Kevin, 53, lives in Montrose, P.E.I. His liver is slowly failing, and he fears he will soon die if he doesn’t receive a transplant.
For the past year, he has been on a transplant list for a liver at a Halifax hospital. He and his wife, Josephine, rushed to Nova Scotia last fall when a cadaver liver became available. That liver was subsequently deemed unviable.
With both time and hope running out, the Clements family has enrolled with the live donor program at Toronto General Hospital, hoping to obtain part of a liver from a live donor.
One of the unique qualities of a liver is that it can regenerate itself.
Several people have volunteered to be donors and, topping the list, is Kevin’s 54-year-old brother, Carl, who lives in Ontario.
Kevin and Carl are the sons of Ferdie Clements of Roseville, and the late Doris Clements. They were born in Ontario, but moved to their parents’ native P.E.I. in their teens. Carl, who returned to Ontario 25 years ago and has been employed ever since as a lead hand at Riverside Brass in New Hamburg, Ont., has already been through extensive testing to see if he can be approved as a donor.
“Hopefully, everything is coming together, and they get great news out of all this testing,” said Carl said in a telephone interview from Ontario.
By the time he returns to Toronto for more testing on April 9-10, Kevin and Josephine hope to be there, too.
The Montrose couple needs to be in Toronto, April 22-24, so that Kevin can undergo a battery of tests. They’re going early so that Kevin, in his frail condition, will have time to rest and recover from the trip prior to reporting to hospital. They are hoping a transplant can be arranged while they are in Ontario.
Asked if he’s nervous about the prospect of being a donor, Carl said, “I don’t know if I’m nervous or not. I’m more excited because, hopefully, Kevin will get back to the way he was four or five years ago.
“He’s had a pretty rough four or five years. Hopefully, this will work, and it will get him back with us again.”
The brothers are aware the transplant presents risks for both of them, particularly for Kevin.
“Without this surgery, his chances are nearly nil, so he needs this now and we’re all for it and I am hopefully healthy enough to do this and get it done for him,” said Carl.
Although other people are in line to be tested if Carl is ruled out as a donor, Josephine said they are really hoping the transplant happens
soon. She said her husband is ailing more and more and lost 10 pounds in the past week – pounds that he can ill-afford to lose.
It’s to the point, she said, that his family doctor is considering inserting a feeding tube so that he will remain strong enough to receive a transplant.
Although Toronto General has performed close to 1,000 liver transplants, it has successfully performed only four on patients with Kevin’s condition, hepatopulmonary syndrome, which has caused his liver to shrink and blood vessels to bypass it.
The Montrose couple is accepting of the risks associated with the transplant procedure.
“We don’t have much choice,” said Josephine, stressing that her husband is “at the end of his rope”.
Even with a successful transplant, there is potential that Kevin could be in an induced coma for three to four months postsurgery.
Carl is encouraged by what he has seen and heard at Toronto General, including testimonials of liver donors and recipients.
“It’s overwhelming to hear the stories; they’re great stories,” he said.
“The transplant team, and people at the front desk, they do everything they can to make you comfortable. They’re absolutely amazing.”