Denise Little didn’t think twice about donating a kidney to help her sister-in-law and best friend lead a full and rewarding life.
Within weeks of meeting the teenage girl 25 years ago who would later go on to marry her brother, Denise Little knew one day she would do something life-changing for the woman who has become not only her sister-in-law, but one of her best friends.
“We met when I was 14 years old and we became instant friends,” said Little, who lives between Osoyoos and Oliver and owns the Good Life Nails and Day Spa in Osoyoos. “I found out almost immediately that she had terrible problems with kidney disease and that she was going to need a transplant one day.
“Because she was sick, I decided I would register with the Unrelated Bone Marrow Registry as a teenager after I found out I had a universal blood type. I wouldn’t call it a premonition or anything, but I always had a sixth sense and gut feeling that I might get the call one day.”
That call came just under a month ago when doctors completed a series of tests that determined Little would be a good match to provide the new kidney her sister-in-law so desperately needed.
It could not have come at a better time as her sister-in-law had seen her weight dip to below 90 pounds after she had spent the past 13 years on a torturous dialysis routine that saw her hooked up to machines for nine hours every single night and several hours per day three or four days a week.
“The best part of the story is she has had a remarkable recovery which has seen her weight climb from 88 to well over 100 pounds in only a few weeks,” said Little. “When you’re suffering from kidney failure, they have a method of measuring toxins in your body and her levels were simply unimaginable.
“Using a scale of 100 for a healthy person with two functioning kidneys, her readings had gone beyond 3,000. On the second day following surgery, her readings had dropped to 68. The poor woman was slowly being poisoned and everything changed within minutes of the surgery. It really has been quite remarkable.”
Like all kidney donor programs in Canada, the donor is asked not to divulge the name of the recipient. Little has no problem divulging it was her sister-in-law, but said that’s as much information as she is going to reveal.
Little, who grew up in Nova Scotia, but has lived near Osoyoos for almost 20 years, said despite “a couple of bad days where you are in quite a bit of pain”, her recovery from surgery has gone equally as well and she feels fantastic less than a month after helping save her sister-in-law’s life.
After finding out she was a good match to donate one of her kidneys after months of tests, Little had to undergo “classical invasive surgery” rather than minimally-invasive laporoscopic surgery, but the recovery period was still relatively easy.
“Whenever you undergo surgery and they’re removing a part of your body, you have to know you going to end up with a couple of days where you definitely don’t feel too hot,” she said smiling. “But the medical staff is simply excellent at providing pain control and after a couple of tough days, I felt fantastic and I haven’t had any kind of side effects at all since getting out of hospital.”
The surgery was performed at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, not far from where her sister-in-law lives in the Lower Mainland.
To watch her sister-in-law make such a remarkable recovery since the surgery has been overwhelming, said Little.
“You get to the point where you’re so sick that the taste of food makes you ill,’ she said. “To see her talk about how good food smells for the first time in many years is so rewarding. She has a healthy appetite for the first time since she was a little girl.
“Knowing that she is finally going to be able to lead a full and rewarding life and get outside and play with her kids without having to be hooked up to machines is just the greatest feeling in the world.”
When informed she was a good match, Little didn’t think for a second about donating a kidney.
She remembered those days when they first met and her thoughts about how one day she would be able to help and was just as excited as her sister-in-law.
“It was a no-brainer,” she said. “I had done my homework and knew that kidney donors will make a full recovery … I was ready to go.”
While some might consider her heroic, Little doesn’t see it that way at all.
‘I’m not remarkable in any way,” she said. “I’m just an average person in every respect, but sometimes you have to make big decisions in your life and donating a kidney to help save the life of someone who you love and you know is going to die otherwise really wasn’t tough at all.
“I met one lady in hospital who had to watch her daughter die after not one person tested to try and find a match. That is such a tragedy.”
Little is hoping her story will encourage others to do the same.
“What you have to understand with kidney donation is that the repercussions are minimal,” she said. “You’re in pain for a couple of days, but then you can get back to living a full and healthy life. You don’t have to be a super hero … it’s something anyone who is healthy can do.”
It was hard to be any closer to her sister-in-law than she already was, but this experience certainly didn’t hurt their relationship.
“We’ve been best friends since we were kids … but I think I’ve moved up a couple of points in her books,” she said.
Her brother has carried a heavy burden looking after the kids and tending to his wife during her long illness and it’s been remarkable to see how much easier life has been for both of them since she received her new kidney, said Little. “It has been fantastic,” she said. “It hurts to see the woman you love hooked up to a machine nine hours every night over several years.”
Keith Lacey
Special to the Chronicle
