Despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Alberta Health Services (AHS) says a record number of organ transplants were performed in southern Alberta last year.
AHS says members of the Southern Alberta Transplant Program performed 105 transplants (103 kidneys and two pancreases) in 2021. The organs came from both living (25) and deceased (43) donors.
The number exceeds the previous record of 101 set in 2017.
In 2020, when COVID-19 first hit the province, 97 transplants were performed in southern Alberta.
“During every wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, AHS continues to provide organ and tissue donation and transplant services, with priority given to urgent cases,” said Dr. Andreas Kramer, medical director for the Southern Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Program, in a Monday news release.
More than 814,000 Albertans have legally registered to affirm their wishes to donate their organs and/or tissues online through the Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Registry since its launch in 2014.
Kramer says while signing the registry is a good first step, it's also important to talk to your family about your desire to donate and who can honour your wish on your behalf.
Albertans can also document their desire to donate organs and/or tissues at their local registry when they renew their driver’s license.
Nancy Langlois, 54, made the decision to anonymously donate her kidney after seeing billboards from Albertans in need.
“I’ve always been very healthy and know that living with one kidney is perfectly fine, so I thought, ‘if I can do this for somebody, then I will,’” Langlois said in a news release.
“For healthy people who donate, it’s not that daunting. Nothing for me has changed. It was a tiny blip in my life. Within weeks of the surgery, I was back to doing all the things I did before – riding my dirt bike, snowboarding. It’s not as dramatic as people think it is.”
Jan Clemis, a kidney recipient and the provincial director for the Alberta branch of the Canadian Transplant Association says organ donation gives people a second chance at life.
"I always tell people I have a birthday in July and a 'life day' in August, because that was when my son was able to donate a kidney to me back in 2018.”
"When we call organ donation the gift of life we certainly mean that, and those of that that have been lucky enough to receive a transplant we all realize that."
Clemis says four years ago she was at a clinic in Lethbridge doing hemodialysis, whereas today she was baking a pie for her son-in-law for his birthday.
"We gain back the freedom in our lives to fill our day with things of our choice and the good health that comes with a transplant is immeasurable," she said.
Provincially, AHS says 404 organ and tissue transplants were completed last year, compared to 395 in 2020 and 433 the year prior.
There were 312 people on the organ donation waitlist last year; 50 of whom died before a suitable organ became available.
"The program does not track specific cause of death by disease, so it is unknown to what degree COVID-19 and opioid deaths, or other factors, might contribute to an increased number of deceased organ donors," said a news release.
April 24-30 marks National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week.
