As every child knows, Christmas is the season of giving, this is the time of year when charity and good will are embraced by society-at-large.
While it is easy to give to those we love and cherish in our lives, the act of giving to a complete stranger often proves to be a little more difficult.
Yes, many will donate to worthy causes, but how often are we presented a chance, not just to directly improve the life of a complete stranger, but to effectively save their life as well?
For one area woman, the decision to risk her life to provide a complete stranger with the chance to live a normal life has come as a result of a determination and desire that fulfills the best parts of the Christmas spirit.
Nettie Littlechief-King, a resident of Wawota, has made herself available, through a Canadian Blood Agency program, to be a kidney donor for the first person for whom she is a match.
"I have a list, sort of a bucket-list," Littlechief-King said. "One of the items on that list, which I found when we were moving back to Canada, was to save someone's life."
"I've had it on my mind since then, and this seemed to be a good way of doing that."
Littlechief-King is a relative rarity in the world of organ donation.
While many people who provide organs for transplant to friends and family, it is relatively uncommon for a donor to come forward and offer a live donation for anyone in need who is a biological match.
The program in which Littlechief-King is taking part is called the Living Donor Paired Exchange (LDPE) program, a Canada-wide initiative run through the Canadian Blood Services organization.
Coming into effect in January of 2009, the program, into its 18th month, involves people in need of transplants and a relation or friend of theirs who is willing to donate but is a non-compatible match with the person in need of a transplant.
Computers run consistent cycles looking for compatible matches, and should a donor be found for the person who needs a transplant, their living donor partner is then called upon to donate at the same time.
With more than 4,000 people waiting for an organ in Canada at this time, 70 percent of which are in need of a kidney, the program has speeded up the rate at which people have been able to receive what is often a life-saving donation.
"The donor you're speaking of would be enrolled in a part of the program called the single- or anonymous donor program," said Chris Brennan, the manager of stakeholder relations and communications - organs and tissues, for the Canadian Blood Services. "Right now we have 185 pairs in the program Canada-wide, but single donors, we have about 20 registered."
"The single donors create a significant impact in the program then might otherwise be the case, however," Brennan continued. "They create a kind of domino effect in the system, because once they are able to donate to a compatible recipient, the donor member of the pair is able to fulfill their part of the program by donating, and so on down the chain."
"The program has made 65 successful matches and transplants so far," Brennan said. "Of those 65, 45 of them have been from a domino effect as the result of a single donor."
For Littlechief-King, her journey into the program began earlier this year when she first applied to be a single donor.
"Since the whole thing started, I've had a lot of tests done," Littlechief-King said. "I am in line to donate a kidney, so they wanted to test my blood, check my kidney function, and a lot of other things too."
"I was told that with every person, there is one kidney that is stronger than the other," Littlechief-King said. "So part of the testing is to determine which one is the stronger of the two, because that is the one that you'll end up keeping."
While initially informed that she could expect to donate sometime between March and April of 2011, testing came back positive and quickly enough that she could be called upon any time they find a match.
"The last tests took place on the 22nd and 26th of November," Littlechief-King said. "Now it is just a question of waiting for a matching recipient to come along, and I'll go to give the donation."
The program provides healthcare, travel, and lodging for donors and a companion to anywhere within Canada where the transplant will take place.
"I know it is a little dangerous for her, it's dangerous any time you go under," said Alan King, Littlechief's husband. "But I support her completely, and I am really proud that she is willing to take a risk like this for someone she doesn't even know, and hasn't even met."
The positive impacts of such a selfless donation go further than just helping the recipient, who will have a chance for a better and longer life due to the transplant, as Brennan explains.
"The cost to the healthcare system of keeping someone who needs a kidney transplant is between $60,000 to $70,000 a year, once you factor in all the costs," Brennan said. "The cost of a transplant runs between $25,000 and $30,000, and that amount represents a one-time cost."
"By becoming a living donor, the person you're speaking of doesn't just help someone live a better life, because quality-of-life is a real issue for someone who is tied to a dialysis machine for hours every couple of weeks," Brennan said. "It helps everyone by reducing the cost and equipment demands on the system, allowing for better delivery of services to anyone in need of medical care."
Between the potential risks, the life-saving and life-improving potentials for the many recipients who will likely benefit from her donation (due to the domino effect spoken of earlier,) and the cost-savings that these donations will generate for the health system Canada-wide, Littlechief-King's brave and selfless act is likely the most generous act of giving one could conceivably imagine.
"I don't know why Alan contacted the paper," Littlechief-King said with a smile. "If the story helps get other people thinking about getting involved as single donors for the program, I suppose that's good."
"I'm doing this for personal reasons though, not because I want to be in the paper," Littlechief-King said. "I just want to have the chance to know that I gave someone a life that they might not otherwise have."
Littlechief-King was at first hesitant to share her story with The Observer's readers, stating that while she wouldn't mind speaking about her experiences in the hopes of generating additional donors for the program, she hoped to await the outcome of the transplant before the story was shared.
Considering the impending Christmas, an earnest appeal that she was in fact living up to the absolutely best the spirit of Christmas represents, and that regardless of the transplant's outcome, just the act of providing the opportunity for someone else, some stranger, to live a full and productive life, managed to convince her to share her story.
"Since launch, the Living Donor Paired Exchange has helped facilitate 65 kidney transplants. Those are 65 people that would otherwise still be on a transplant wait list, and undergoing treatments like dialysis," Brennan said in a statement to The Observer, "As the rate of kidney disease continues to grow, we know that the demand for transplant will also rise. So things like the LDPE that have a proven record of success are so welcome."
"We're also proud that this is now the first truly national organ donation registry in Canada, as every province has now signed on to take part," the statement continues. "That means a greater pool of potential donors, and an increased likelihood of finding an acceptable match."
For more information about the Canadian Blood Services, the Living Donor Paired Exchange program, please visit the website at www.blood.ca
In Saskatchewan, the program can be contacted through the Saskatchewan Coalition for Organ Donor Awareness.
