Dude, where’s my kidney?
Brittany Smith (right) and Craig Thompson (left) wearing matching shirts to celebrate one year post-transplant
St. Joe’s celebrated an incredible milestone in 2023: A record number of kidneys were transplanted and lives changed. Meet one of them.
Once upon a time, Craig’s kidney packed a suitcase, zipped out of Craig’s belly and took a trip to Aunty Britt’s. Now, both Craig and Aunty Britt each have one kidney and they both will live happily ever after. At least, that’s the story told to Craig’s three-year-old daughter, who will grow up knowing her dad saved her aunt’s life.
“Aunty Britt” is Brittany Smith, a 32-year-old elementary school teacher. When she’s not in the classroom, you can find her kayaking or paddle boarding on Lake Erie, or spending time with her niece and nephew. What you wouldn’t expect when you meet Brittany is that three years ago she found out her kidneys had failed, was put on dialysis treatment every second day and began the difficult search for a new kidney.
“It came on quickly and was a very fast decline,” says Brittany, who had no history of kidney disease. “It started with intense migraines and high blood pressure. I maxed out on migraine medication, my limbs started to swell and I was vomiting every day. I had to teach virtually because I couldn’t make the drive to work. I found out my kidney was working at 14 per cent and I needed a transplant.”
After meeting with multiple specialists, Brittany made her way to St. Joe’s. She was given the option of waiting for a deceased donor or finding a living one. “My first response was there was no way I could ask my family or my friends to do that for me,” she says. “But we knew the wait was long, and so when my family learned what the options were, they instantly started the process to find out if they were a match.”
Finding a match for kidney donation is not a simple task. Luckily for Brittany, being related is not a prerequisite, like many assume. After more than a year of waiting and struggling with dialysis treatment rejection, Brittany received relieving news: Her brother-in-law was a match.
On September 22, 2022, Brittany and Craig traveled to St. Joe’s together, knowing their lives would be different once they left. Craig and his wife (Brittany’s sister) had just welcomed a new baby months prior, and he knew his oldest daughter would be waiting on the other side, kidney stuffed animal in-hand.
Craig’s daughter carrying her kidney stuffed animal.
“I made peace with the fact that my life would look different,” says Craig, who has played sports all his life. “But, my life didn’t change at all after donating my kidney. I still play hockey; I returned to work after just one month.”
Craig says he “felt like a VIP” at St. Joe’s. While recovery from the surgery wasn’t a straight line for Brittany, with help from her healthcare team, she finally started to feel the benefits of her kidney transplant. She’s now able to enjoy what many people take for granted: living on her own and doing her own groceries. She returned to work, went back to the gym and started playing sports again.
“Receiving that kidney changed the complete trajectory of my life. I can’t even put it into words.”
Celebrating one year with a new kidney
Just short of their one year transplant-iversary, Brittany and Craig shared their journey with a group of patients, donors and healthcare workers at St. Joe’s Renal Transplant Program – Living Kidney Donor Celebration. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
“She shared the good and the bad,” says Dr. Christine Ribic, Brittany’s nephrologist and Medical Director of St. Joe’s Kidney Transplant Program. “Everyone’s journey is different. Some people only like to focus on the positive points, but Brittany was willing to paint a realistic picture about her experience and I think that really resonated with people and inspired them. I think her candidness is really unique.”
Brittany and Craig’s relationship is also unique – especially after going through a life-changing event such as kidney donation. Their positive outlook and sense of humour carried them through. To mark one year post-transplant, Craig popped into a local tattoo shop to pen the story of his kidney’s travels on his abdomen. Brittany purchased matching t-shirts, Craig’s reading “Dude, where’s my kidney?” while Brittany’s read “Whoop, there it is.”
“Looking at Brittany, you would never know that she has kidney disease,” says Dr. Ribic. “She’s young, and even before transplant she really focused on trying to live a normal, healthy life, which can be challenging with dialysis. Her recovery wasn’t smooth, but what stands out to me about Brittany is her perseverance, even in times of adversity.”
While Craig may have saved his sister-in-law's life, he doesn’t see his role in her transplant as anything out of the ordinary. “People come together on a daily basis to do extraordinary things,” says Craig. “I would just consider myself to be someone who had an opportunity to help. It’s only human nature to try to help others, right?”
Interested in becoming a kidney donor?
St. Joe’s is the second-largest transplant program in Ontario and offers multiple ways for individuals to save lives through organ donation:
- Organ donation after death
- Be a living organ donor
- Kidney paired donation program
- Make a donation to support kidney transplant care at St. Joe’s
In the News
CHCH: St. Joseph's Healthcare celebrates record year in kidney transplants