Mark Cunningham’s advertisement for a kidney on the back of his truck isn’t conventional, but it has curb appeal.
A photo of an ad exploded on social media, leading to what he believes to be four sincere offers of organ donation — including one from a woman in Cobble Hill.
“My phone didn’t stop ringing,” Cunningham said Wednesday. “I’m grateful, shocked and overwhelmed.”
The 55-year-old Langford grandfather says he has been on the organ-donor wait-list since he began dialysis for his failing kidneys about seven years ago. Recipients of kidneys from deceased donors must be on dialysis to qualify.
Under a new program at Royal Jubilee Hospital, Cunningham receives dialysis over eight hours overnight, three times a week.
“It’s something I live with,” he said.
“You have to have a positive outlook. It’s keeping me alive.”
But the treatments are a grind and his kidney function is down to six per cent. He has high blood pressure and has had both hips replaced. Even his teeth have been affected by his kidney disease.
Tired and anxious to have a better quality of life and more time with his family, Cunningham asked the owner of the Sign Pad if he would make him a vehicle wrap sign. The company did so as a donation.
The message was simple and direct: O- kidney donor needed! If interested, please call Mark 250-686-0064.
“I want to fight to be around for my grandchildren and kids and my wife,” said Cunningham, who has been married 24 years to wife Dana and has two children and three young grandchildren.
“I’m not one to beg for something, but maybe there’s someone out there who could help me. I thought, ‘Let’s give it a whirl, it doesn’t hurt to advertise.’ ”
The sign was added to the truck about eight months ago but didn’t garner much interest until it was posted Tuesday to the Facebook page of alternative rock radio station the Zone 91.3.
Since then, Cunningham has received four inquiries, which he has directed to the transplant program at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, one of the province’s three transplant centres. Now he waits.
“I’m not the only one on the list and, for sure, some on the list are waiting longer than me,” Cunningham said.
A living donor is most often a family member or someone from the patient’s community, said B.C. Transplant spokeswoman Peggy John. If family members or friends are not a match, they may qualify to be part of a kidney paired exchange program in which incompatible donor-recipient pairs are matched with other such pairs to exchange donors.
As of Jan. 1, there were 526 people waiting for a transplant, according to B.C. Transplant. In 2015, 422 transplants were performed. Twenty-one people died while waiting for a new organ.
Wait times for kidney transplants vary greatly based on blood type and other factors, John said. In 2014, the median wait time for kidney transplants for adults with blood type O was just under five years, she said.
“While the wait time for those with blood type A is relatively short, more rare blood types such as B+ can wait as long as eight to 12 years, and those who are highly sensitized (98 per cent of donors won’t match) because of previous transplants or blood transfusions or pregnancies can wait much longer,” John said in an email.
Cunningham said he worked as a janitor for the Municipality of Saanich for 20 years. He went on long-term disability two years ago because of his failing kidneys.
The Cunninghams emphasize they’ve met babies, children and teens in similar need.
Dana Cunningham, 48, wishes everyone in B.C. was automatically enrolled as an organ donor and that people would be forced to de-enlist to remove their names, rather than having to sign up.
She would like to see her husband untethered from dialysis and free and healthy again.
“It’s not a fun life. It’s not a life for anybody,” she said.
As for Mark Cunningham, he says his faith and hope have been lifted by the strangers who reached out to him.
“I have a feeling a deceased or living donor will come forward and I will get a kidney eventually.”
AUCTION TO RAISE FUNDS
Mark Cunningham’s family has organized an event and silent auction to raise funds for expenses associated with staying in Vancouver for a transplant, on April 9 from 7:30-11:30 p.m. at the Royal Canadian Legion, 622 Admirals Rd.
