Woman worries health of husband waiting for kidney will deteriorate while Sask. organ donor program paused

A Regina woman whose husband is waiting for a kidney transplant says when she heard Saskatchewan's organ donation program was being paused, she was "shocked that it was actually one of the decisions made."

The province indefinitely suspended the program last month because of record-breaking COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Janice Murphy said her husband François Ébrottié has been on home dialysis since late last year and has been on the kidney transplant list for at least a year and a half.

She said for someone who is able to get a kidney transplant in Saskatchewan, the typical wait time is two to five years. It could be much sooner for someone who has a living donor who is a perfect match, which he doesn't have, she said.

She and Ébrottié, who she said is under the age of 50, have older children and also two daughters, aged seven and 17, who are still living with them at home.

She said the kidney clinic likely didn't get the news much longer before she did, but she was also confused to see something in the media that affects her personally without knowing beforehand.

"I was reading the news over lunch and then saw it and then watched the news at night," she said. "It was weird because this completely changes your life. And it was just a weird way to find out."

She said she is "extremely disappointed."

"I would really love them to make decisions based on the well-being of the people of Saskatchewan," she said. "That's what I'm feeling."

She said her husband was also disappointed.

"Because this is what you count on, this is what you always hope for when you're doing the two, three, four processes a day you need to do for your dialysis," she said.

She said he is feeling well now and they're hoping that's going to last as long as possible while the organ donation program is on hold.

It's always better for a person to get a kidney when they're still healthy in terms of how they're feeling, she said.

"What we're afraid of is that if these things keep going — and obviously the longer you go, you've lost opportunities to get a kidney — your health might deteriorate," she said.