Wife seeks kidney donor for husband’s 30th birthday
Robert Slater has a rare genetic condition that is causing his kidneys to fail: ‘I get sick every day’
All Robert Slater wants for his 30th birthday is a new kidney. His wife is trying to help him get just that.
Slater, 29, was born with a rare genetic condition called Fabry disease, which causes a buildup of proteins in the body’s cells that can lead to kidney failure, which is potentially life-threatening. Over the last two years, Slater’s condition has worsened.
He’s now sicker than ever. “I get sick every day, without fail,” Slater said in an interview with The Spectator.
“It’s hard to keep down food a lot of the time and it’s just because my body is poisoning itself. It can’t filter out this poison because the kidneys aren’t working correctly.”
Healthy people’s kidneys function at close to 100 per cent. Slater’s function is at 15 per cent.
Ultimately, he needs a new kidney. But until he’s even more ill, or on dialysis, he can’t get on a donor list. The only way to get a kidney now would be for someone to come forward, get tested to see if they’re a match, and voluntarily donate a kidney.
That’s where his wife, Stella, comes in.
With Slater’s birthday just around the corner on March 7, Stella realized the best gift she can give her husband is his health. For that, he needs a new kidney.
She decided to reach out to media in the hopes of spreading the word and encouraging people to get tested to see if they’re a match with Slater.
Slater says they’re private people and he was initially nervous to go public — but he’s eager to do whatever it takes to get healthy.
Slater’s illness has been difficult on both of them.
“It's hard to see him feel nauseous and tired all the time,” Stella said.
“It's hard for me to see how it's affecting his mental health. Also, we weren't expecting it so soon in our marriage. We were always told that the kidney function could decline in his 40s and 50s, not before he's 30. The hope was that we would have had 20-plus years of marriage under our belt and have our family completed before we had to deal with this.”
“I feel bad for what she’s going through,” Slater said, echoing Stella’s comments that neither of them realized he would get so sick so fast — just two years into marriage.
Ideally, the hope is that someone will hear their story, be inspired to get tested, be a match and agree to donate a kidney — all within the next two weeks. Stella thinks it’s doable.
It would be the best birthday gift for him — but also her. Their birthdays are one day apart.
What to know about kidney donation:
Dr. Norman Muirhead, vicepresident of the Kidney Foundation's Ontario branch board of directors, encourages anyone interested in donation to get tested.
The process, he said, typically involves calling a hospital transplant team, saying you want to get tested to see if you are a match for someone, and then answering a list of questions to determine eligibility. From there, blood work and additional testing, including a CT scan and cardiac testing, will be conducted. If you’re still deemed a viable donor, and you want to move forward, you’ll meet with kidney specialists and eventually undergo surgery.
Muirhead said surgery is typically minimally invasive. It involves a surgeon making a small incision above the pubic bone and removing the kidney. (Most people have two kidneys.)
“Most (donors) are up and on their feet and out of hospital in two or three days,” he said.
How to get tested to see if you are a match:
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton advises people to complete an initial medical screening questionnaire at stjoes.ca/livingdonorquestionnaire. Additional information can be found at stjoes.ca/hospital-services /kidney-urinary-services/ living-kidney-donor-program. You can also call 905-522-1155 ext. 32156 or email livingdonors@stjoes.ca to connect with the kidney donation team. Slater’s full name, which you can provide to the team, is Robert Edward Slater.