SOME OF MY FAVORITE LINKS
KIDNEY FOUNDATION OF CANADA
INFO ON TRANSPLANT RESEARCH
SITE TO CHAT WITH OTHER RENAL PATIENTS
SITE ABOUT IGA
COUNTRY MUSIC SITE
A LOOK INTO THE LIFE OF A KIDNEY PATIENT
HI! My name is Tony Munn I am finally getting my page back on line. I am constructing this page to try and help raise awareness about the need for organ donation. I had a transplant myself on Nov.29, 1993. I was very fortunate as my wife was able and willing to give me one of her kidneys. If this had not have happened I may have waited up to 5 years for a kidney. Some people live for many years on dialysis but believe me it is far from the normal way of life we are used to. So please give organ donation some serious thought, sign an organ donor card, let your family know your wishes and give someone the gift of life.
There are many different types of kidney disease. I was diagnosed as having IGA also known as Bergers Disease. The way it was explained to me is that it may have started from a kidney infection that didn't get entirely cleared up.
It was 1976 when I started getting sick two or three times a year and I would always have blood in my urine. I would be treated with antibiotics and usually in three to four days I would start feeling better again. This went on for quite a few years until I was finally sent to a kidney specialist and after several tests and a couple of biopsys I was finally diagnosed with a degenerative kidney disease.
I was put on a treatement of chemotharapy and large doses of prednisone. This will in some cases stop the disease and some lost kidney function will be regained. In my case I developed bleeding ulcers and the treatment had to be stopped and when it was resumed it did not work. It was soon after this that I had to go on dialysis and we started looking at the posibility of a transplant.
My mother and father had the blood type testing done and my mother was a match. My wife Janice asked if she could be tested and they agreed to do it but said the chance of a match would be very slim. Her first test came back and our blood types matched so then Janice and my mother,Velma had a DNA test done. When we went in to get the results we could not believe it Janice and my mother both had a very close DNA match with mine. Janice said I am a lot younger and I want to give Tony one of my kidneys.
Janice had to go through a number of tests, some not so pleasant, to make sure she was in good enough health to give me a kidney. One by one the tests came back with excellent results. The hospital in Halifax was contacted and they came back with a date for admittance which was Nov.26,1993. On Nov.29,1993 we were taken to adjoining operating rooms and Janice gave me the gift of a new life. Everything went so well the Doctors said it was a textbook operation. My health immediately started to improve, Janice on the other hand was not so well. The operation to remove her kidney was much more complicated than my operation to receive the kidney. I had to stay in the hospital 2 days longer than she did but I was up and walking around a few days before she was. It was about 3 months before Janice was pretty much back to normal again.
It has been a little over 5 years now and we are both doing very well. Janice hasn’t had any ill effects at all and other than scheduled blood work and check-ups my life and health has been great.
We are very lucky to live in a small community where neighbours and friends are always there with prayers and support. We are also blessed with a wonderfull Health Care System here in New Brunswick Canada and the care we received from the clinic in Doaktown N.B., the hospital in Saint John N.B., and the hospital in Halifax NovaScotia couldn’t have been better.Most of all thanks to my wife Janice for the greatest gift of all.
Tony F. Munn
This is a very good quote that was sent to me from an e-mail friend in England. "Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with all its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterday."
