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In Canada, a 62-year-old woman who had no other choice than a kidney transplant to survive had the idea of sending the message directly to her car. An ad that has found a taker, or rather a donor.
It is a beautiful story that was reported by West France Monday February 13. Debbie Onishenko, a 62-year-old Canadian, has had diabetes since she was a teenager. A disease that affects his quality of life, of course, but also his kidneys, which only work at 9%. For Debbie, it’s a cold shower: last summer her doctors tell her that dialysis is no longer enough. Only a transplant can save her.
A request for help written on the rear window of his car
In an emergency, the sexagenarian has an astonishing but effective reflex: as one writes an advertisement to sell his car, or to advertise his company, Debbie writes a call for help in white letters on the rear window of his car.
“Need a group O kidney. Give the one you have in reserve”she pastes, adding her phone number.
TONIGHT at 5 & 6: Last summer we brought you the story of Debbie Onishenko and how she advertised her search for a kidney on her car.
Brent Kruger says he saw our CTV coverage and reached out, last week he discovered that he’s a match! ?? pic.twitter.com/5MIiW19iht
— Miriam Valdes-Carletti (@mvaldescarletti) February 3, 2023
The surgery is scheduled for the end of the month.
Summer is not yet over when the patient receives the call that will change her life. A certain Brent Kruger who discovered the ad not on the car but on the internet told him:
“Roses are red, violets are blue, I have a kidney and I will give it to you”
The man is compatible thanks to his blood type, but still submits to numerous tests without even having met Debbie, so that the doctors can be sure of the success of the company. It was not until January 28 that the two finally fell into each other’s arms to give substance to this bond of solidarity that now unites them. According West Francethe surgery that will hopefully save Debbie’s life, is scheduled for February 28.
An impossible story in France
If the story is beautiful and resonates with a personal situation, however useless to try the same thing in France. Living kidney donation is possible here, but only concerns the family. The bioethics law of July 7, 2011, however, widened the circle of living organ donors who may be the father or the mother and, by way of derogation, a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister of the recipient, his spouse, his grandparents, uncles or aunts, first cousins and first cousins as well as the spouse of the father and the mother. The donor can also be any person providing proof of living together for at least two years with the recipient as well as any person who can provide proof of a close and stable emotional bond for at least two years with the recipient.
But not a generous stranger moved by a transplant story.