For the past two years, Edith Nee’s body relies on a machine exchanging solutions in her abdomen five times a night to survive. She started her kidney dialysis the same month her father passed away while also on dialysis.
The dialysis takes a great toll on Nee’s body – she endures chronic fatigue, itchy skin, shortness of breath and dizziness from low blood pressure. And the doctors have said she can only be on dialysis for so long.
That’s why her family is reaching out to the public for a kidney donor.
Nee, now in her 60s, has spent her lifetime working with national and local organizations, building a better world for immigrants, refugees and minorities.
Nee was a member of the B.C. Press Council for eight years and was chair from 2005 to 2008. She was actively involved in civic affairs for many years, and was a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.
Nee was also the founding member of Immigrant Visible Minority Women’s Movement in B.C. and Canada.
Nee was an executive member of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, as well as vice-chair of the advisory committee to the president of the treasury board of Canada on employment of visible minorities.
Nee has the chance to live, if she receives a kidney donation.
Currently, about 495 people in B.C. are waiting for a life-saving transplant.
In 2013, 346 organ transplants were performed in B.C. It rose by 40 transplants from 2012. In all, 197 British Columbians donated organs – 130 living donors and 67 deceased, according to B.C. Transplant, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority.
“Improving access to organ transplant takes a comprehensive approach involving awareness, education, and support throughout the hospital system,” said Dr. Greg Grant, provincial executive director of B.C. Transplant. “It all begins with a donor. We encourage all British Columbians to register their decision today.”
For more information about the transplant process, visit www.transplant.bc.ca. To contact Nee’s donor nurse, Sharon Duncan, call 604-875-4111 ext. 20519.
Nee is compatible with blood type B and O. If a donor is not compatible with those two blood types, they can participate in the paired kidney exchange program, which was designed to reduce waitlists for patients. It makes it possible for an incompatible donor couple to swap with another couple in the same situation -- enabling two kidney patients to receive a transplant.
