Organ donation: The ultimate gift

An innovative new program is giving transplant patients a second invaluable gift: the wisdom and companionship of a mentor who has experienced the same agonizing wait, the same countless fears and the same overwhelming joy when "the ultimate gift" is received.

Oct. 26, 2006
"Oh, would you look at that!" says Barbel Martin. She is dressed elegantly, in black slacks and a blue blouse, but looks tired. Her eyes are a bit red, her forearms swollen, and, as always, she is short of breath. Heather Bishop, 31, and I are visiting Barbel, 63, in her home on a quiet suburban street in Markham, Ont.

Barbel is looking at a small pink scar on Heather's neck -- Heather has just jumped off the sofa to show it to her."

A biopsy's not too bad," says Heather. "The process is about 10 minutes. You'll be with other people who have had heart transplants. That part's fun. It's social."

Then Heather leans back, continuing to describe the process in which heart transplant patients are routinely checked for rejection under local anesthetic. She draws a circle on her neck where a draped opening would be, and mimes the process by which a bioptome, a flexible tube with a grasping device on the end, is inserted into a small incision and through the jugular vein to take five samples from the heart. ("It doesn't hurt," she says reassuringly. "All you'll hear is the catheter shushing by your ear.") Then she shows Barbel what she calls "the heart transplant salute," pressing her index and middle fingers against the imaginary incision, pretending to stem any bleeding.

"So there's nothing to worry about," says Barbel, relieved.

A helping hand through unknown territory
Barbel and Heather are both patients at Toronto General Hospital's Multi Organ Transplant program, one of the largest organ transplant centres in Canada (and home to many world transplant firsts). Although the centre is well regarded for its high standard of care, the hospital has added an innovative dimension to the transplant process: a volunteer program pairing mentees who are awaiting an organ transplant with mentors who have already had one.

Operating formally since 1990, the program has helped many potential organ recipients waiting for everything from heart to liver to lung transplants deal with the uncertainties of the process, from the time they are accepted onto the waiting list to the recovery period in the months after transplant. Mentors provide insight, emotional support and hope for patients who are waiting for a lifesaving operation and living on borrowed time.

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