In this episode of the Living Transplant podcast, host Candice Coghlan was joined by Kelsey Hannah, an OR nurse and mother who went on a journey of health and wellness to lose weight to save her mother's life by donating a portion of her liver to her. We talked about her journey of self reflection, empowerment, dedication, and what it felt like to juggle life while the clock ticked down getting closer to her mother needing that gift of life of a liver transplant. We were later joined by Chantal Wiggins, a Transplant Coordinator at the Ajmera Transplant Centre in the Living Donor Liver Program ..read more

WELCOME TO SEASON 5! In this episode, host Candice Coghlan was joined by Vanessa Tait, a Cree woman from O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation who put her heart and soul into supporting her father, Kenneth, through his kidney health journey. She uprooted their lives to move from her father's home community of O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation, over 700km north of Winnipeg, to the city to access dialysis, as there were no hemodialysis machines and no capacity to do home dialysis, with the lack of access to large amounts of water needed. While in Winnipeg, Vanessa was his primary caregiver. We spoke ..read more

In this episode, host, Candice, is joined by Melissa Sidhu who works in healthcare, is a passionate volunteer and living liver donor to her brother over 10 years ago. We spoke about her journey as a donor, relationships with loved ones, how to find tiny moments of joy and gratitude throughout this episode. You will also hear clips from members of the transplant community sharing their gratitude. The views and opinions expressed in this episode do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Toronto General or University Health Network. To learn more about living liver donation, p ..read more

In this episode, host Candice Coghlan sat down with Afsana Lallani, a cat lover and nursing graduate who made a public social appeal to find a living liver donor to save her life. They talk about being young and living with a chronic illness, facing death and how a supportive community can make all the difference. They are later joined by Dilshad Lallani, Afsana’s mother, caregiver and a pediatric nurse practitioner. She speaks about the family journey in supporting someone on the transplant waitlist, being an emotional support and what it was like being a nurse practitioner living through the ..read more

In this episode, we're celebrating Living Donation Week. Host, Candice was joined by Sylvie Charbonneau, past president of the Kidney Foundation of Canada, advocate, change maker, and living kidney donor to her son. We were also joined by Dr. Joseph Kim, Director of the Kidney Transplant Program at the Ajmera Transplant Center. We discussed barriers and changes that need to be made to increase access to organ donation as a whole across Canada and how we can support others to receive and give the gift of life. For more information about living kidney donation, please visit https://www.uhn.ca/Tr ..read more

In this episode, host Candice, takes you behind the scenes of the Ajmera Transplant Centre's 2nd Annual Education and Research Conference, to hear about incredible science, clinical, and research aspects of transplantation. Hear from the following: Samrat Ray: Expanding the transplant pancreas donor, using an ex vivo perfusion model. Adriana Roberta: Determining the impact of certain mismatches, which are located in the DQ Loco and the development of chronic rejection. Javier Solera: The severity of COVID 19 Omicron variant and Omicron specific immune responses in solid organ transplant patien ..read more

In this episode, host Candice Coghlan was joined by Justin Poy, a father, entrepreneur, and businessman who has lived with multiple types of renal replacement therapy since the age of 10, including three kidney transplants, hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, as well as home dialysis. Justin spoke about mental health, resiliency, parenting with a chronic illness, and how to appreciate each day. Later we were joined by Dr. Samantha Anthony, the first person to hold the title of Health Clinician Scientist in Canada, Transplant and Regenerative Medicine Center, Department of Social Work, Chil ..read more

In this episode, host Candice Coghlan sat down with Tara Lisabeth, who received not one, but two double lung transplants at a young age. She spoke about life with cystic fibrosis, what it felt like to take deep breaths and how transplant gave her the opportunity to walk down the aisle and get married. Later we were joined by Dr. Marcelo Cypel, the Surgical Director for the Ajmera Transplant Centre at UHN and UHN ECLS Program, among many other accolades, who also performed Tara's first double lung transplant. He spoke to us about innovations to expand the donor pool and create more viable lungs ..read more

In this episode host, Candice Coghlan sat down with Craig Lindsay, the Senior Manager of Programs and Public Policy for the Kidney Foundation of Canada, Ontario Branch. Craig not only works tirelessly supporting this community, but he's also part of it, having lived with diabetes, which eventually caused his kidneys to fail. Craig did home dialysis for many years before receiving a kidney/pancreas transplant, curing his diabetes. Later, we were joined by Dr. Trevor Reichman, Surgical Director of the Pancreas and Islet Transplant Program and Associate Professor of Surgery at University of ..read more

In this episode, host Candice Coghlan sat down with Shilpa Raju, an epidemiologist who finished her degree while battling cancer. She survived the cancer, however unfortunately the side effects from her treatment caused sever lung damage, resulting in her need for a double lung transplant. Shilpa spoke about being a young person battling illness and trying to keep a sense of normalcy and positivity through her day to day. Later, we were joined by Dr Mamatha Bhat, a staff hepatologist and clinician scientist at UHN's Ajmera Transplant Program and University of Toronto's division of gastroentero ..read more