ORGAN DONATION
One for the Team NHL hockey mom donates kidney to long-time friend
by Heidi Westfield Below: Graham with his wife Pam and two grandchildren (Callum and Addisyn) and Bonnie at the local ice rink. Graham installed a special thank you message at centre ice in honour of Bonnie Below right: Bonnie and Graham in hospital
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efore his transplant, it was a struggle for Graham Nesbitt to do everyday tasks. He felt weak and didn’t have much endurance. Even walking his son’s dog was a challenge that would leave him out of breath: “I would have to get the dog to drag me back,” he recalls. Now, a year after receiving a kidney from his friend Bonnie O’Reilly, his health has improved dramatically. “I feel terrific,” the retired hockey arena manager says. “It has given life back to me, it is just incredible. Now I can outwalk the dog!” Graham was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy more than a decade ago and learned he would need a kidney transplant in 2019. Once word got out in his small Ontario community, a number of people volunteered to be donors, including Bonnie. The two have known each other for decades. Graham would open the local arena before school started, so Bonnie’s children and other neighbourhood kids could have some extra ice time. He would do the same on “snow days” when school was closed. Those sessions at the rink helped Bonnie’s sons develop as players, which proved to be a start-
Spring 2022 / Kidney Living / 13
