Quebec woman gets second chance at life thanks to social media campaign
Posted December 26, 2022 5:49 pm.
Last Updated December 26, 2022 6:19 pm.
“Nobody will ever do something that big for me, ever. It’s. It’s a gift of life. And I’m grateful forever,” said Judith Belair-Kyle.
36-year-old Judith Belair-Kyle was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease at 15 – a hereditary kidney disease that leads to kidney failure.
In 2019 she was told her kidney function was at 30 per cent.
When CityNews first met Judith at the PKD walk in Montreal back in September – her kidney function had gone down to 12 per cent and she was waiting for a donor to get a transplant
Not long after, her wish for a second chance at life came true.
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“Posted on Facebook in October 2021 that I needed a kidney to start a family and to start working again and living again. And little did I know somebody answered that and called the hospital and started all the appointments to check if he was healthy enough to give me a kidney. And they called me in September this year to tell me that I would get a transplant the 1st of December,” said Belair-Kyle.
“I shared her story. And then my friends, a whole bunch of my friends shared her story and she got this miracle. And now as a result, she’s got a second chance at life, a chance to start a family,” said Luisa Miniaci-De Leo, Montrealer chapter coordinator for the PKD Foundation of Canada.
“Five days later, I was out of the hospital with an almost normal kidney function. The kidney is working very well,” said Belaire-Kyle.
“The fact that it’s really somebody who didn’t know me and decided to give me a chance to live, that’s really amazing. And I’m hoping that some people will maybe think about it because we’re there. There’s still 700 people in the transplant list that are waiting for a kidney around that number and we’re we are living in a shortage of organs for many reasons. But living transplantation, transplantation could help a lot with those numbers. And all those people deserve a normal life.”
“the fact that she needed that she has PKD that she needed a kidney, but she also encouraged others maybe to come forth and share their journey that, hey, they’re there in the bad situation and they need help,” said Miniaci-De Leo.
“I’ve been able to cook this week, cook things just for fun. And I hadn’t done that for a while, just because I had no motivation, I had no eating, was not fun for me because I felt sick all the time. So I think that for it is the hope of a real life. These people are hoping that I’ll be able to live again,” said Belair-Kyle.
When Judith found out she had 30 per cent kidney function she froze her eggs – hoping that once she got a new kidney and healed – she would start her journey to motherhood – but that will come with a heavy price tag of $15,000
“We’re going to do genetic test on the eggs so that we kind of can sort out the ones that don’t have PKD. So we’re going to try to make a baby that won’t pass gave forever. So we wanted to stop with me,” she explained.
It will take over a year before she can begin the process of getting pregnant, but living a normal life free of pain, that, she says has already started.
