Hamilton hospital appeals for living donors as more than 100 people await life-saving kidney transplants
Desmond Brown | CBC News | Posted: May 11, 2025 8:00 AM | Last Updated: May 11
Only 'moderate success' in efforts to increase number of living donors, program lead says
It's been 51 years since St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton carried out its first living donor kidney transplant.
Since then, the hospital's living kidney donor program has grown into one that's "large and flourishing," according to the program's medical lead.
But Dr. Seychelle Yohanna said while the program remains "very dedicated to helping patients get living donor kidney transplants," increasing the number of living donors to keep up with demand has been a struggle.
Yohanna said the hospital carries out between 120 to 160 transplants each year, but only about 30 per cent of the kidneys are from living donors.
"So, clearly there are not enough organs to meet the demand, not enough supply for demand," Yohanna told CBC Hamilton.
"As the program and as the province we're working tirelessly to increase access to kidney transplant."
Why a living kidney donor is 'best'
A living donor kidney transplant "is the best treatment for patients with kidney failure," Yohanna said, adding that those patients can gain several additional life years.
"The kidneys themselves also tend to last longer. If you're able to find a living kidney donor, then you can avoid the number of years on dialysis while waiting for a deceased donor transplant," she said.
Yohanna said a living donor transplant works approximately 20 years on average, whereas the deceased donor transplant works anywhere from 10 to 15 years.
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the number of people in Canada with end-stage kidney disease continues to rise.
There are about 120 people on St. Joseph's kidney donor program's waitlist, Yohanna said, but nationally in Canada, there are approximately 3,000 people who are waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant.
In 2022, 117 people in Canada died while waiting for a kidney transplant, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Hamilton model for quicker donor assessment adopted by others
Yohanna said in Canada and across the globe, there's been "moderate success" in efforts to increase the number of living donors.
"Ontario is actually one of the top provinces in Canada in terms of deceased donations and we've done so well at increasing our deceased donor numbers, even though there is still room to improve," she said.
"But living donation has been a little bit stagnated over the past years or so, and we're very committed to helping patients find living donors and to promoting living donation, but as a society, as a community, we haven't really been able to move the mark as much as we'd like."
To address this, the hospital has taken steps to significantly reduce the time it takes to screen potential donors.
In 2019, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton developed Canada's first-ever one-day assessment clinic for potential kidney donors, a welcome alternative to the historically lengthy and often inconvenient assessment process.
Yohanna said this approach has also been adopted by other transplant centres, with three out of six adult kidney transplant centres in Ontario now offering this shortened assessment process. The St. Joe's team helped The Ottawa Hospital set up their own-day assessment clinic in 2021 and London Health Sciences Centre in 2024.
Hamilton family 'praying that a donor will be found'
Hamilton resident Charlene DaSilva knows the heartbreaking toll of Alport syndrome — a rare genetic condition that causes progressive kidney failure.
She's already lost her father at just 58, and her nephew at 37, to this disease. Now, two more family members urgently need kidney transplants — including another 19-year-old nephew who is already on dialysis.
One of DaSilva's family members is being cared for by St Joseph's Healthcare, while the other is being cared for by the London Health Sciences Centre.
"The fear is constant. I just keep praying that a donor will be found so they don't face the same outcome."
DaSilva is sharing her story to raise awareness and ask a question: "If you could save a life by sharing your spare kidney — would you?
"Most people are born with two kidneys but only need one to live a full, healthy life. Living kidney donation is one of the greatest gifts you can give — the gift of life," she said.
DaSilva said donating a kidney could help someone break free from the exhausting cycle of dialysis, including "hours each week hooked up to machines, constant fatigue, nausea, and depression."
Additionally she said she patients face serious risks like high blood pressure and infections, as well as lost time with family and friends
"Organ donation isn't for everyone — but if you've ever thought about it, now is the time," DaSilva said. "You could be the miracle someone has been waiting for."
"Organ donation isn't for everyone — but if you've ever thought about it, now is the time," DaSilva said. "You could be the miracle someone has been waiting for."
Having done it once and realized, you know, I came out OK at the other end, it's a very good experience. - Ricardo Ramirez, Guelph, Ont., resident and organ donor
Guelph, Ont., resident Ricardo Ramirez, 65, decided to become a donor after learning that his brother-in-law was having kidney problems due to prolonged use of medications.
"My wife and I talked about that and it was no-brainer. It was like we got to try. How could you not try?" Ramirez told CBC Hamilton.
Experience brought these 2 men 'closer'
Ramirez's wife as well as his sister-in-law also did the screening. While both were incompatible candidates, Ramirez said he was a perfect match. The transplant was done at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton in February 2023.
"That will be ingrained in my head for the rest of my life — that moment of 'Oh dear, this is going to happen,'" he said.
"It was overwhelming. We have since become closer. For the first year after the surgery, he would send me all the data — his numbers and my numbers — of how we were each recovering.
"Every time I talk to him he reminds me of, you know, this is called the gift of life. This is giving him such a push [but] it's also very rewarding from the donor perspective."
Ramirez said he would encourage people to consider donating a kidney if they have a relative or a friend in need of a transplant, adding that he would do it again if he could donate a second time.
"I must tell you that closer to the actual transplant date I was so nervous that something would happen and I would not be able to be a donor 'cause then I realized my brother-in-law was back to square one. So, it's quite an emotional journey you go through," Ramirez said.
"But I mean, in retrospect … having done it once and realized, you know, I came out OK at the other end, it's a very good experience.
"I advise other people who are in the early parts of this journey, especially people on dialysis that are scared to ask a spouse or a relative, I say to them, realize that they won't let that person do [surgery] unless they pass this test. And this is one of the most common procedures done globally with a success rate of 99 per cent, so why not?," added Ramirez.