Alain David: giving the gift of life, literally

Kate Aley

We frequently hear about lives saved by organs from deceased donors, but we hear far less about a quiet, but remarkable group: live donors. Breckenridge’s Alain David is recovering from having his left kidney removed and given to a total stranger whom he will never meet. The decision to undergo the operation was not a spontaneous one.

“I’ve had this on my bucket list for six or seven years,” he explained. "Laureen Bureau, a kidney recipient herself and volunteer for the Canadian Kidney Foundation, asked me if she could talk to my classes [at Grande-Rivière high school in Aylmer] about organ donation. She has been coming every year since, so I’ve heard the presentation about 30 times. One day I said, you know what, I am going to walk the talk. In Quebec alone, there are so many people who die while on the waiting list or while on dialysis. It was something that got to me,” he explained further.

At the end of 2015, there were 856 people seeking an organ donor in Quebec; 613 needed a kidney. During the year, 40 people died waiting.

David was the first of four live donors who underwent surgery at the end of April. “I feel like I was run over by a truck, but it’s easier for the recipient,” he said. “The new kidney is actually placed by the bladder in the front of the recipient’s body so they have to be very careful for the rest of their life. My remaining kidney will grow about 10% to compensate for the missing one. When possible, you always give the left kidney because the tube that drains the urine from that kidney to the bladder is slightly longer; it gives them a little bit more to work with.”

David’s kidney was tested for health over a five-month period and he lost 45 pounds to be in the best possible shape for his surgery. “The doctor told me that the healthier you are, the less pain you’ll be in and the faster you’ll heal,” he said.

He was recently invited to take part in a National Advisory Panel on the living organ donation program in Toronto, where he plans to call for more information, encouragement and support for live donations. “Everyone thinks this [my donation] is heroic… [but] the nurses and doctors that deal with transplant patients every day, they are the heroes,” he stated. “The people on the waiting list and on dialysis, they are the heroes. I am just a pawn that helped set some wheels in motion.”

David hopes that, through his story, people will understand the critical need for organ donors. “I understand that being a live donor is scary,” he conceded. “But if you just sign your health-care card, you could save eight lives with your organs and improve 40 lives with other parts of your body after your death. That’s the message I strongly want to get across,” he concluded. 

Reprinted with permission from Pontiac2020.