Kidney Donation Fund Raiser

Hi, my name is Diane Anderson....the photo you see is my husband (Doug) with our grand daughter Marin.

Doug is a retired police officer that served his community for 25 years in the Calgary Police Association. In 2004, he asked me one cold winter day what I would think about moving to Penticton. I thought he'd lost his mind.....haha....it didn't take me too long (maybe on a day of -50 degrees with the wind chill) to think about it & when I said, "anytime you want to move to Penticton, just let me know." We were gone later that year & have never looked back. We have made some amazing friends in Penticton & have enjoyed the many hiking & walking trails here with our dogs over the years. The day we moved here people were so welcoming, it's been the best thing we've ever done.

Jumping forward to May 6, 2015 I donated a kidney to Doug & everything went really well. This was an emotional journey that I would recommend for anyone that's thought about organ donation. It took my husband a bit longer than myself to recover from the surgery, but all in all it went unbelievably well. We have friends that had a short-term rental they donated to us at the time, but with the new rules on short-term rentals & the cost of taxes etc. in Vancouver they sold their place a few years ago. Having this place to stay was a huge part of Doug's recovery just knowing he had a place to stay.

He has been doing well for many years until last year when his kidney numbers were going down slightly & then he got COVID & to be honest I don't know if having COVID or the drugs they had to give him to combat the COVID had something to do with his kidney failure, but either way....here we are again almost 10 years later & he needs another one. He is currently on the immediate transplant list so we could get a call any day or night which in itself is a bit stressful. We have a plan in place for friends to look after the dog etc. & I will have to take some time off work to take care of him after surgery. Once again, he will have to stay in Vancouver for 2 months after the surgery so they can keep a close eye on any rejection or infection. This will once again be an expensive journey. I am trying to raise funds for the expenses of going down their, coming back, food, lodging etc. We did have some help last time too from GoFundMe & it was invaluable. I don't know what we would have done without the help from our family & friends.

Thank you in advance SO MUCH for your generosity, I look forward to having my husband back to a place where he feels like he has a future & a purpose :)

I will keep you updated on his journey !