Young Vancouver man desperate for transplant pleads for a stranger to donate a kidney

A young Vancouver man is pleading for an organ donor after falling ill with an irreversible kidney condition.

Sukhdeep Bains, 21, who has been diagnosed with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) relies on daily blood transfusions to survive. The rare disease creates blood clots that have permanently damaged his kidneys.

He says he went into hospital two years ago complaining of low energy and a stomach ache.

When they called to tell him his kidneys were failing and needed dialysis immediately, he was shocked.

"At that moment I was like, this is probably just a mistake or just some minor thing," he recalled. But a kidney biopsy revealed the startling reality.

"They said that there is a chronic kidney failure which is not reversible ... the treatment would be a kidney transplant."

Bains is now looking for a stranger who would be willing to part with their kidney so he can live out the rest of his life normally.

A living donor is preferred as it promises the longest life expectancy.

Typically, family members are the most compatible candidates, but because his disease is genetic, he says their donation could increase their risk of getting sick with the same condition.

It's left his siblings feeling helpless, including one of his older sisters who helped raise him after their father died, when Bains was just two years old.

"He's always going to be little to me no matter how big he is," sobbed Hardeep Bains, 25. "To remember all the days he was healthy and playing, running around and now seeing him like this ..."

She adds that her younger brother, a talented carpenter, recently became the primary breadwinner in their home.

His sickness has left the family struggling to make ends meet.

"That is the hardest part for me, to see my family suffering — because of me," Sukhdeep Bains said through tears.

Not enough donors

According to Dr. James Lan, a transplant nephrologist at Vancouver General Hospital, there are currently more than 500 people waiting for a kidney donation.

"Unfortunately, every year we don't have enough organ donors to satisfy all the patients on the wait-list," he said.

Lan is pushing for more living donors to help Bains and others like him get off dialysis.

"Many patients are doing relatively OK on dialysis," he said. "Unfortunately, some develop complications and become too sick to receive an organ transplant."

Bains is hoping that won't be the case for him. 

He says he's feeling positive and encourages anyone considering making a donation to contact the B.C. Transplant Society.