A heartbreaking phone call

Two local women were meant to be recovering in a Vancouver hospital today from a kidney-transplant surgery, but instead, a last-minute, heartbreaking phone call has left them waiting with bated breath.

Castanet introduced Caroline Lopes and her life-saving angel Jeanne Usen to the public earlier this month.

At the time, the two women had become bonded life-long friends after Usen made a spontaneous decision to provide Lopes her kidney and save her life.

When interviewed at the beginning of this month, the duo were amped up and ready for the kidney-transplant surgery scheduled for April 26 in Vancouver.

Last week Lopes had made her way to Vancouver and was preparing for the big day. Usen's sister had arrived from Calgary and her bags were packed and she was ready to head down to the coast on Saturday to join her, but Friday night, one phone call changed the whole plan.

“My doctor called and told me the reason he was calling is because they were going to have to cancel the surgery due to two antibodies that showed up in my blood,” explained Lopes.

“I was in shock, I was devastated. I was bawling, I had to pass the phone to my boyfriend who got all the details.”

“It was like I got punched in the head. It was like I couldn't breathe, I had to sit down,” said Usen. “It was like I had fallen off the end of a cliff. It was just devastating news, devastating.”

The women say the odds were in their favour, but it just did not work out. 

“There was a 95 per cent chance it was a go and, of course, Caroline and I hit that 5 per cent chance where, for some reason, her body would have rejected my kidney,” added Usen.

“If they did go ahead, there was a 50 per cent chance there would be rejection and we would lose that kidney, or I would die in the surgery because of the complications,” said Lopes.

But, all is not lost.

According to her doctor, the problem antibodies in Lopes' blood may be due to a recent infection she is recovering from, which means they may disappear over time.

The two women will be tested several more times over the next few months to see if the transplant is still possible.

If that does not work and it comes to the point where doctors no longer believe the women can successfully be a match, they will both go on the pairing program list.

“She told me that no matter what, she is there for me and she still sees it as her kidney keeping me alive and here for my daughter,” said Lopes.

The pairing list allows incompatible donor and recipient pairs to find other incompatible donor and recipient pairs across the country where the un-paired donors match the recipients. It allows the donors to still help their loved ones by giving their kidney to another.

Usen could give her kidney to stranger in need and that stranger's donor would, in turn, give Lopes their kidney.

“We are on board. Whatever it takes to get this young women a kidney, I will do,” said Usen.

“Without any hesitation at all. You have to put it behind you and now we've got to go forward.”

The news has hit both women emotionally, and now financially, as they both had taken measures to prepare for an extended visit in Vancouver, including accommodations and time off work for both of them and their supporting friends and family.

Lopes had rented a place in Vancouver for her three months of recovery that she had to cancel at the last minute, losing money on that deposit as well.

“It has been a financial hardship on both of us,” said Lopes. “It comes out of all of our own pockets.”

“My family and friends have just been so supportive and have stepped up to help me when they could,” said Usen. “Both Caroline and I appreciate that so much.”

They will now have figure out a new plan, find ways to raise some more funds to help go through this a second time and wait – in hopes of securing a new surgery date in the future.  

If you are interested in becoming a living organ donor, click here for more information.