‘I have a second chance at life’ : Cassy's Story
Originally Printed: Hamilton Spectator
A few days after celebrating her 30th birthday, Cassondra"Cassy" St. Pierre got her long-awaited, life-changing gift — a new kidney.
"I have a new lease on life, a second chance at life," she said with arms spread wide and toward the sky. "That phone call was a miracle. I was in shock … I was crying … I thought it would never come."
Cassy's story begins much earlier. At 16 she had her first transplant after going into kidney failure. Her father was a match and donated one of his kidneys.
At age 23, she went into kidney failure again, forcing her onto dialysis. Cassy, a part-time, long-term care nurse living with her parents, spent the next several years administering her own dialysis. The exhaustive procedure sapped her energy and prevented her from working full-time.
"There were times I would feel on the brink of just a total breakdown," she said.
Under the watchful eye of St. Joseph's Hospital, Cassy was on a variety of wait lists in hopes of finding a suitable donor.
"It was very hard for us to find someone who Cassy wasn't making antibodies toward," said Dr. Azim Gangji, transplant nephrologist at St. Joseph's Healthcare. "Unfortunately, it is a common thing among especially young individuals who have had multiple kidney transplants."
Family and friends were tested, but no luck. No match was made through the kidney exchange program in Canada either. She was added to the routine deceased-donor list and high-priority list but given the antibodies her body was making, a perfect match seemed impossible. Not wanting to lose faith, Cassy made frequent calls to St. Joe's hoping for good news.
"It can be so discouraging knowing how difficult you are to transplant," she recalled. "All the comfort you could be told was we're trying our hardest, something will come, you just have to wait."
Concerned for Cassy's health, her medical team made attempts to find a donor across the border but that failed too. She was added to a "highly sensitized program" through Canadian Blood Services.
Then "a miracle" happened. Between May 13 and May 28 this year, multiple donors became available. Eighteen kidney transplants took place during those two weeks, a first for St. Joe's — on average, the transplant team does one kidney transplant a week. The procedure takes about 30 people and four hours to complete.Through rigorous and precise testing, one of those kidneys was a perfect match for Cassy who got her new organ on May 28.
"She's a changed individual compared to how I remember her on dialysis," said Gangji. "She is a different human being altogether. Her health is better, her quality of life is better, she's returning to work, she's exercising and doing remarkably well."
She's bright-eyed, bubbly and excited to share her story. Even though she knows the success rate for kidney transplants ranges between 10 to 20 years, she vows to take care of her health and new kidney in hopes of living a long, fulfilling life.
Throughout her challenges, Cassy has been supported by her family and friends as well as her boyfriend of three years who she met while on dialysis.
"We can't wait to continue our lives together with this new lease on life," she said with a beaming smile. "Now that we are more certain of my health in the future, we can't wait to get married and start a family."
She also said one of her goals is to increase awareness about the importance of organ donation and the quality of life it gives back to patients.
"More people need to sign their donor cards," she said. "To make the choice to give life to someone else is an amazing decision. It's my ultimate goal to promote kidney transplantation and the need for donors."
"The possibilities for my life are endless … I'm extremely grateful to everyone."