{"id":831413,"date":"2026-07-28T13:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/831413\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T13:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:09:17","slug":"in-quebec-past-kidney-transplant-donors-and-patients-volunteer-their-stories-to-support-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/831413\/","title":{"rendered":"In Quebec, past kidney transplant donors and patients volunteer their stories to support others"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Care Between the Lines<\/a> is a summer series, which will introduce you to volunteers in health care who fill gaps and provide compassion in a system that can be isolating and scary. <\/p>\n

Twelve years ago, in the face of serious kidney disease, Serge Pisapia was in need of a transplant and had spent years on peritoneal dialysis. Still, he hesitated to accept a right kidney from his younger sister Christine even though she had gone through several tests and was medically cleared to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cSerge was a very reluctant recipient,\u201d Ms. Pisapia, 62, said in an interview. \u201cHe did not want my kidney.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much has changed since then, including Mr. Pisapia\u2019s lease on life. In November, 2014, he accepted his sister\u2019s kidney and felt an immediate boost of energy when he woke up in the recovery room. Now, at 70, he takes several daily medications and test results show he is doing well. <\/p>\n

The two use this experience to inform their work as volunteers with the Transplant Ambassador Program<\/a> in Montreal. <\/p>\n

The program, run by a non-profit, was launched in Ontario in 2017 and expanded into Quebec last March. It connects patients with chronic kidney disease and their families with volunteers who themselves have gone through a transplant or donation. <\/p>\n

The Transplant Ambassador Program is a first in Quebec \u2013 operating out of Montreal General Hospital \u2013 and draws lessons from long-standing efforts by its co-founder Susan McKenzie<\/a>, who received a kidney from her sister-in-law in 2010 and became a transplant advocate.<\/p>\n

The work of transplant ambassadors aims to address a care gap: They can offer valuable, first-hand knowledge about their experience, which health care providers do not have.<\/p>\n

Care Between the Lines: Women\u2019s Auxiliary Volunteers at SickKids bring warmth to patients and their families<\/a><\/p>\n

The siblings say most patients pause when they think about receiving a kidney from a family member. They often share how they fear a transplant could affect the health of someone they care about, contributing to feelings of guilt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI speak to a lot of potential recipients and I help to demystify and alleviate their fears and their anxieties,\u201d Ms. Pisapia said, adding her brother could have benefited from speaking to someone like her. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey get to see, in the flesh, somebody who has been through it and is doing quite well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Transplant Ambassador Program is a first in Quebec \u2013 operating out of Montreal General Hospital \u2013 and draws lessons from long-standing efforts by its co-founder Susan McKenzie, who received a kidney from her sister-in-law in 2010 and became a transplant advocate.Lisa Milosavljevic\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

A campaign is under way to enroll more volunteers. A new recruit in Quebec is 34-year-old Jonathan Vanderzon, a Canadian actor. <\/p>\n

In March, 2024, Mr. Vanderzon had surgery to remove his left kidney to give it to his close childhood friend who was in renal failure. The operation followed a nine-month process for Mr. Vanderzon to be medically cleared to be a donor.<\/p>\n

Mr. Vanderzon said the recovery process was fast; he was line-dancing a mere three weeks after his operation. His friend is doing well, too, and has been able to travel to New Zealand. \u201cMy kidney is better travelled than I am,\u201d Mr. Vanderzon said with a laugh. <\/p>\n

He said the surgery also left him with something lasting. \u201cMost of all, becoming a living donor meant I got to keep my best friend around, so that\u2019s the number one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Vanderzon looks forward to volunteering as an ambassador with the program. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to get the word out,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted people to know that it was an option that it hasn\u2019t impacted my life in a negative way whatsoever. It\u2019s only been good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Pisapia has valued the chance to spread awareness through the ambassador program.<\/p>\n

Additionally, he said volunteering affords him with something in return: New insight into the thought process of donors, which he has discovered is often quite emotional. <\/p>\n

After hearing personal stories, he has a new appreciation for what they want to do and how it affects them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a mission and they\u2019re driven to achieve that mission,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Care Between the Lines: In Saskatchewan, volunteer drivers go the distance to bridge rural health care\u2019s transportation gap<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf the recipients like me, the reluctant recipients, only knew that level of mission, maybe they would feel less guilty or responsible to have to put someone else through this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ambassador program also buoys efforts of medical professionals. <\/p>\n

Vicki Tan, an advanced practice nurse at the Montreal hospital, said while they can offer medical expertise, they do not have experience living with chronic kidney disease and how it affects day-to-day life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that we were missing before,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can do the teaching, but we don\u2019t fully understand what somebody goes through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The ambassador program also buoys efforts of medical professionals, including 29-year-old Vicki Tan, an advanced practice nurse at the Montreal General Hospital.Lisa Milosavljevic\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Ms. Tan said in addition to the time required for patients to receive dialysis, it is draining on the body and affects quality of life. <\/p>\n

Ms. Pisapia said her brother did not know that being on dialysis, which replicates the kidney\u2019s function to remove harmful waste products, is designed to serve as a bridge for patients before a transplant. <\/p>\n

While she said the procedure keeps patients alive, it is associated with considerable costs for the health care system. <\/p>\n

The Kidney Alliance, a national non-profit made up of donors, patients and their loved ones, pegs<\/a> this figure at $100,000 per patient per year. <\/p>\n

By contrast, the cost of a transplant is approximately $100,000 in the first year but tapers in subsequent years to about $20,000 annually. <\/p>\n

The alliance says more transplants would relieve burden on increasing health care costs in a system that is overstressed. <\/p>\n

Despite making her pitch to her brother, Ms. Pisapia was not, in the end, the one to convince him to go ahead with receiving the transplant from her. <\/p>\n

He only agreed after a surgeon advised that it is was medically preferable to accept his sister\u2019s kidney rather than receive one from a deceased donor. The average length of time a patient can keep an organ from a live donor is longer than from someone who is dead.<\/p>\n

Pitching in: Chance encounter leads to heart transplant \u2013 and money raised for UHN<\/a><\/p>\n

On the morning of Nov. 6, 2014, the siblings went into adjacent surgery rooms at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. In one, Ms. Pisapia\u2019s kidney was removed. In the other, it was transplanted into Mr. Pisapia.<\/p>\n

Before she was wheeled into her OR, Mr. Pisapia said he remembers his sister, a trained pilot, giving him a thumbs up from the stretcher. He also recalls that she was smiling and looking confident.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also gave me confidence, of course, to see that she was in this kind of mood before going to the operating table,\u201d he recalls. <\/p>\n

Later, after the two procedures were complete and sedation medication had worn off, the two shared an emotional reunion in hospital gowns, amongst some family members in a hospital room. <\/p>\n

There, they held hands, with needles in their hands for IVs, and shed what Ms. Pisapia describes as \u201ctears of joy,\u201d over a life-defining experience they went through together. Mr. Pisapia\u2019s life was saved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Care Between the Lines is a summer series, which will introduce you to volunteers in health care who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":831414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,290358,290359,84,392],"class_list":["post-831413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-care-between-the-lines","tag-care-btwn-lines","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}