01/09/2023
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Greg, Pam’s husband, here with an update. This page looked like it had gone silent and many of you may wonder why. Is Pam still in need of a donor? YES, Pam still needs a living liver donor with blood type O+, O-, B+ or B- to donate in Toronto
Here’s the roller coaster of the events since we last posted.
In late September there was medical activity that seemed to indicate a transplant for Pam might not be too far off. We found out later that a time had been booked for that transplant to occur in mid-October. We didn’t learn this until recently, but a very special person applied to be Pam’s donor and was found to be a match!
Just before the transplant was supposed to occur, Pam became deathly ill with an infection. That put her in hospital at the beginning of October; at first in Ottawa and then transported by air-ambulance to Toronto.
The transplant team hoped to get her well enough that the scheduled transplant could go forward. That was not to be.
Despite intensive treatment, Pam’s body did not respond positively. On Thanksgiving Monday the director of the transplant program gave me the news that, in their opinion, Pam had "hours to days to live".
We moved from treating her to get ready to receive a transplant to purely palliative care. She was removed from the transplant list. She clearly could not be a transplant recipient at that time and the medical opinion was that she most probably would never be again.
In light of the situation at the time, that special donor went forward and anonymously donated to another person. While we did not know anything about the donor at that time, as a family we hoped that if the donor could not save Pam’s life, the donor would save another’s life.
Pam has proven that expert medical prediction to be incorrect! After six further weeks of hospital care she got back home at the beginning of December. She is now walking on her own and putting on muscle mass.
We met with the transplant team on Dec 22 in Toronto. She is back on the transplant list! She is once again eligible for transplant and to have a living donor!
➡️➡️If you had begun the application process and would like to remind the transplant team that you continue to want be a donor for Pam, or if you would like to see if you could be, contact the Living Liver donation program: https://www.uhn.ca/Transplant/Living_Donor_Program/Pages/living_liver_donor.aspx. Potential donors apply by completing the 11-page health history. The form asks for the recipient’s full name and date of birth. It's Pamela Hopkins-Dargavel, born on January 15, 1955.
The Living Liver Donor Program will contact applicants about next steps. Donor testing is typically done in Toronto, but potential donors can do much of the testing at local labs in your hometown. The testing, surgery and hospital stay is covered by Pam’s OHIP. For expenses like travel, food, accommodation and income replacement, there is a reimbursement program through Trillium Gift of Life for up to $5,500.
The donor does not need to be a relative or the same ethnicity (that matters for stem cells, not organs), just a healthy person aged 16-60 with blood type O+, O-, B+ or B-.
If you’d like to ask the experts questions about becoming a living liver donor, contact the University Health Network Centre for Living Donation in Toronto at livingorgandonation@uhn.ca.
The UHN Centre for Living Donation hosts a monthly on-line information session for Potential Living Liver Donors. The next one is on Tuesday, January 24, 12 - 1 p.m. https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/information-for-potential-living-liver-donors-tickets-104537544610.
There wasn’t much energy to keep this page active while we focussed on Pam’s near death experience and prolonged recovery. That’s why you haven’t heard from us for such a long time.
She is back on the list. She has come through almost dying. She is now looking for a second very special person. The search continues. Please share as widely as you can.
