A woman from Simcoe, Ont., whose kidneys are operating at around 20 per cent of normal ability is looking for living donors through social media.
“I had a 100 per cent kidney function when I was younger,” said Christina Meyer who was diagnosed with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease at age 18. “But the disease is a very slowly progressing disease. So, my kidneys are now getting to the later stages of the disease.”
Meyer’s kidneys then started to fail functioning around her 40s. She is now on a drug that is called Jinarc which is to slow the progression of the disease.
“I’m still on it. My kidneys are still declining. However, there is no cure for this,” said Meyer.
Despite having poor performances, her kidneys’ glomerular filtration rate has not dropped below the threshold and cannot enter the organ waiting list.
“I’m not technically on any waiting list yet,” said Meyer. “They won’t start testing me for a kidney transplant until my eGFR is at 15 or less consistently.”
Her goal is to completely avoid dialysis and to have transplantation.
“I don’t feel overly sick at this point,” said Meyer. “But I’ve heard from other people who’ve gone through transplants, and once you get a transplant, you’ll realize how sick you actually were.”
She has posted about her disease and appealed to potential donors in early January. Since then, few people have responded and are undergoing paperwork.
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