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retired ottawa nurse renews search for liver donor after near-fatal infection halted procedure last fall
a former ottawa hospital nurse who acquired hepatitis c...
jan 9 2023
3 minute read
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a former ottawa hospital nurse who acquired hepatitis c from an accidental needle stick more than 20 years ago is renewing her search for a living liver donor after a near-fatal infection last fall ruined her chance to receive an organ transplant.
pam hopkins-dargavel, 67, launched a public appeal for a living donor last summer when her liver disease became unmanageable.
on thanksgiving weekend, hopkins-dargavel learned an organ donor had come forward and was a good match based on medical testing. living donors give part of their liver to a patient, with both the donor and recipient’s portions growing to “normal” size following the procedure.
unfortunately, she was dealing with an infection that went from bad to worse the same weekend.
“thanksgiving was a real roller-coaster,” her husband, greg dargavel, said in an interview monday.
hopkins-dargavel was taken by air ambulance to toronto where her transplant team hoped to bring the infection under control and prepare her for transplant surgery.
but on thanksgiving monday, dargavel said, he was told his wife was suffering multiple organ failure and had “just hours or days to live.”
his wife was taken off the transplant list and placed in palliative care. dargavel began to prepare for her death and cremation.
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meanwhile, the person who had come forward as a donor after reading about hopkins-dargavel decided to proceed with an anonymous organ donation.
“given pam’s prognosis – she wasn’t expected to live – the donor went forward for someone else who needed it,” said greg dargavel, adding: “it was the right thing to do.”
days later, hopkins-dargavel somehow rallied and doctors restarted active treatment of her disease. she remained in hospital for a month and a half, regained her strength and returned home to ottawa at the beginning of december.
she’s now able to walk about 100 metres at a time on her own and navigate the stairs in her house.
“i’m not a particularly religious person but many would call it a miracle,” her husband said. “she’s one tough person. her body has the sheer willpower to keep on going.”
hopkins-dargavel recovered well enough that she was back on the waitlist for a liver transplant from a deceased donor just before christmas. her family has also renewed its search for a living donor.
“since someone else got the liver donation that was destined for pam, we’re now out looking for a second one,” dargavel explained.
the wait time for a transplant from a deceased donor is uncertain — receiving an organ can take years — so the family is searching for a living donor with blood type b+, b-, o+, or o-. no one in the hopkins-dargavel family has proven to be the right blood type to serve as a donor.
the waitlist for a liver transplant in ontario now has 227 people on it, according to statistics from the trillium gift of life network .
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hopkins-dargavel is on the transplant list at toronto’s university health network (uhn). according to the uhn, it has conducted more than 800 living liver donor transplants since 1990 and all of its donors have returned to their regular lifestyle with no restrictions.
recovering from donor surgery takes about six weeks, according to information on the uhn website. liver function is fully restored in a donor within two weeks.
potential donors need to be between the ages of 16 and 60 years old and in good health to apply. the first step in the application involves an 11-page health history. the testing, surgery and hospital stay are covered by ohip.
anyone who wants to learn more about liver donations or apply to become a donor for hopkins-dargavel can visit the university health network’s web page for living donors.
hopkins-dargavel was working at the ottawa hospital in 1990 when she accidentally stuck a needle through her hand while working with a young hemophiliac who had acquired hepatitis c during canada’s tainted blood disaster.
she was later diagnosed with hepatitis c, a viral infection that can cause liver inflammation and more serious damage. her illness progressed during the past two decades, badly scarring her liver and severely restricting her daily activities.
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dargavel said his wife suffers from chronic fatigue and brain fog since her liver is unable to properly cleanse her blood. she’s on a restrictive diet and regularly goes to the hospital to receive new blood products and to have fluid drained from her abdomen.
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