Jennifer Chiappe had heard these words before but she knew when it came right down to it no one ever really meant them.
Until her friend, Tiana Peet, said "I'll give you a kidney - you need a kidney? - You can have one of mine - that's fine."
Peet donated a kidney to Chiappe on June 1 this year.
Chiappe and Peet met seven years ago at the College of New Caledonia when Peet was only 19 and Chiappe was 26. Those fateful words were uttered about a year after that during a conversation where all Chiappe said was having been diagnosed with kidney disease at 19, she would eventually need a kidney transplant. Chiappe, now 33, said she didn't give it another thought because even if Peet meant it, the odds were against them in so many ways. The donor and the recipient must have matching blood, tissue and antibodies.
After a year-long process of testing to make sure they were a match, they were approved.
"This situation was the best of the best," said Paul Duperron, longtime member of the local chapter of the Kidney Foundation of Canada and longtime volunteer for the Prince George Kidney Walk, the group's major fundraiser, which will be held Sunday at the UNBC Northern Sport Centre starting with registration at 1 p.m.
The fact that Peet, who is the honouree for the local walk, took it upon herself to start the process without anyone knowing as Chiappe's kidney function declined to a point where a transplant was viable, was astounding to everyone around Peet.
Peet is only 26. It's rare for a young person to consider donating an organ. Transplant BC statistics from the past 10 years show only about 16 per cent of living kidney donors are between the ages of 19 and 34. About half of the kidneys donated are living and the remaining half are from cadavers. Living donor numbers have risen over the last few years.
And it's even more rare when the donor and recipient are not related. Most often the best chance for a compatible kidney is to get it from a family member. No one in Chiappe's family was a match and later it was discovered that if Peet ever needed an organ, none of her family members were a match for her either. Of course, Peet's family never wanted to see her put in harm's way but it was one of the points Peet used to convince her family to support her in the decision to save her friend's life.
Peet has 0 negative blood, making her a universal donor which means she can virtually help anyone in need. She made a strong argument that immediately won her family's support.
"I told them that if I ever needed a kidney transplant we would hope - and mom would hope - that somebody else's child would be willing to give me a kidney because my mom couldn't give me one and that's exactly what Jenn's mom was hoping for, right?" Peet said.
Chiappe considers that whole experience a miracle.
"Tiana saved my life," said Chiappe, with tears in her eyes. "There's no other word to describe it. It was a miracle. And despite the fact that transplant is just a treatment option I knew from the moment I woke up that the transplant worked. I didn't feel like I had the flu anymore, I wasn't shaky anymore, and before I even woke up the kidney was already working."
Chiappe said it was a surreal moment.
"I had been told that I would feel like that by transplant patients," she said with a disbelieving shake of her head. "You wake up and you feel great - yeah, right - but I did - but was stuck in a bed and that sucked!"
Chiappe spent six days in the hospital - typical stay is five but she got really ill from the anti-rejection drugs so she needed that extra day. Chiappe took five and a half weeks to recover enough to return to Prince George for extended care, while typical recovery is between two to three months before people can return home. Chiappe was feeling better than her old self in four and a half months.
Peet took a week before she returned home and about three months before she felt like her old self, while typical recovery is six months to a year.
How do you thank someone for giving you a kidney?
"I thought about this a lot because how do you say thank you? Honestly, I have never met anyone so selfless," said Chiappe. "Tiana has never asked for anything in return. That's been one of my struggles since the beginning because words can never express how I feel."
Despite the great support from the Kidney Foundation of Canada, BC Chapter, Transplant BC and the medical system there are still expenses that are not covered like maintaining a household while in recovery, staying in Vancouver during the first part of recovery, and incidentals that come with it all. Chiappe decided to hold a fundraiser so she and Peet could come out of the experience no further behind financially than when they started their journey together. They held an event that raised more than $21,000 that covered their expenses.
The whole experience was great, they said.
Peet's quick recovery has inspired her family to consider becoming donors themselves, she said.
In Chiappe's family it's a bit different.
"There's so much crying when Tiana comes to visit," she said with a shrug. "Tiana saved my life and that will never be forgotten. My family calls her The Angel."
To participate in the Prince George Kidney Walk this Sunday registration starts at 1 p.m. at UNBC, with the walk set for 2 p.m. To pickup a pledge form call Diane Duperron, Kidney Foundation local chapter president, at 250-962-7958.
Even though 95 per cent of BC residents are in favour of organ donation and about half of them believe they are registered donors, only 19 percent have actually registered with BC Transplant. For more information about organ donation visit http://www.transplant.bc.ca.
