Organ transplant patients in limbo as Alberta, Saskatchewan delay surgeries amid COVID-19 surge
Global News
Saskatchewan has suspended its organ donation program, while all living donor surgeries have been postponed in Alberta as both provinces fight the fourth wave of the pandemic.
Marla Marshall has been waiting for her second liver transplant since February this year — and now she’s worried that time is running out.
The Calgary mother of three daughters was born with a form of neo-natal hepatitis and had her first transplant back in 1998. That liver is now failing, too.
With COVID-19 cases surging in Alberta, hospital ICUs are overwhelmed, causing life-saving organ transplants to be pushed back for many, like Marshall.
“My symptoms get worse, my eyes get yellower, my bruising gets worse and the waiting gets longer,” said Marshall, who is in her 40s.
At this time, urgent cases involving deceased donor transplants are being prioritized, but all living donor surgeries have been postponed, a spokesperson for Alberta Health Services told Global News in an emailed statement.
As of Tuesday, there were 1,100 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 263 of whom were being treated in the ICU.
The situation is also concerning in Saskatchewan, which last week halted its organ donation program due to a lack of staff and intensive care beds brought on by the province’s fourth wave of COVID-19.
Saskatoon resident Jessica Bailey, who has been on kidney dialysis for the past two years, was finally given the green light by her doctor on Sept. 15 for a transplant.