A Lumby man has a new lease on life following successful kidney transplant surgery in Vancouver on Monday, Nov. 21.
Cole Derry has dealt with more than two years of medical complications since his body rejected his first kidney transplant in 2020. But his health prospects have improved drastically following Monday’s successful procedure at Vancouver General Hospital.
Derry and his living donor, Pam, are both “doing pretty well,” according to a post from Derry’s partner Karen on the Cole’s Kidney Journey Facebook page.
Karen wrote that she’d been told by her husband’s health team that “everything went as they expected. The new kidney is already working too which is amazing news.”
“This has been an extraordinary experience and I know that Cole and I are both extremely grateful and so very excited to get to have a chance at a ‘normal’ life,” Karen said. “With the surgery now behind us, we now move onto the recovery phase which has been more challenging for us. We are hopeful that this will go smoothly but are cautiously optimistic.”
The couple is expecting to be in Vancouver for six to eight weeks if all goes well with Derry’s recovery.
On Tuesday Karen was able to see both her husband and Pam, and the two were in some pain but had “not too many complaints.” Pam was already up out of bed, and Derry’s new kidney was functioning.
Karen and Cole are “so thankful” for Pam’s willingness to donate a kidney, and that her kidney was a match.
“It’s incredible to learn about how our families (were) connected previously even though we had never met before,” she said “Truly was meant to be!”
On Sunday Derry underwent what is hoped to have been his last dialysis treatment. There was some concern that his hemoglobin levels were too low to perform the surgery and that he was suffering from internal bleeding, but doctors gave the go-ahead to have the transplant surgery done on Nov. 21.
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