‘I wasn’t ready for her to go’: N.S. woman makes life-saving donation to friend

Nova Scotia women share a 40-year-friendship and a set of kidneys.

Most people would do anything for their best friend, but two Maritimers recently gave that promise a whole new meaning.

Laura Fowler and Cheryl Flamand met in 1980 and have been inseparable ever since.

“We were in the same class, and we just talked to each other right away. She became my best friend when I first moved to that town,” says Fowler. “We reconnected again after we got out of high school and then after we had kids. But every time we reconnect, it feels like we’ve never left each other.”

The two friends from Nova Scotia have gone through many of life’s adventures over the past four decades.

In 2021, Flamand became sick with Goodpasture Syndrome shortly after moving to Quebec.

“One day, I just started not feeling very well and had no idea what was going on. By the end of the week, I went to the hospital and they set me up with a nephrologist. And about a week-and-a-half after that, I saw the doctor and was told right away to get admitted into the hospital because I was down to three per cent kidney function,” says Flamand.

“It happened very quick, very fast. My doctor considered it a catastrophic event.”

Flamand was told she needed a kidney transplant and immediately began looking for a healthy match.

“Nobody in my family was either healthy enough or had the proper blood type in order to be able to help out,” she says.

That’s when Fowler reached out to Flamand via Messenger.

“I texted her and said, ‘Hey, I hear you’re looking for a kidney. You can have one of mine if I’m healthy enough,’” says Fowler. “We’ve seen a lot of our friends pass over the last few years…and I wasn’t ready to let her go.”

But Fowler didn’t hear back about her offer right away.

“It took me a year to accept it because it’s such a huge gift,” says Flamand. “It was when she finally went and saw her family doctor that I knew that she was very serious, and that she wanted to do this. So that’s when I said, ‘Well, here’s the information and let’s go.’’’

The friends underwent surgery on Jan. 15 at a hospital in Quebec City.

“I’m feeling amazing,” says Flamand. “I was telling my husband yesterday that my mind feels so much clearer. My body feels so much healthier.

“There’s no words. It gave me my life back. My freedom.”

Both Flamand and Fowler are hoping their story will spread awareness and inspire others to be live donors.

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