When Freddie Marsh went to rescue his dog 10 years ago, he had no idea how life-changing it would be. It was through the Boston Terrier Rescue Canada he met coordinator Anna Maria who would become one of his dearest friends and ultimately, would receive one of his kidneys.

There are currently 669 people on the transplant waitlist in BC. In May 2015, Freddie donated a kidney to Anna Maria at Vancouver General Hospital, a process that started about a year prior, after he learned she was on dialysis.

“We were out for lunch and her health was at a point where it was getting critical. I learned she was A- and looking for a donor and I thought my partner was the same type, so I said ‘Dave could do that’. I’m always volunteering him for things,” he says with a chuckle. “Turns out, he’s not A- but I am, and I was so glad to be able to help.”

By his account, his recovery was incredible, he was in minimal pain and only took two weeks off from his position as Western Canada BDM, Playa Hotels & Resorts, a company he said was “unbelievably amazing” to him throughout the ordeal. He returned to work part time, even attending the WestJet Travel Expo that year, just two weeks after the surgery and was fully back to normal only a month later.

Anna Maria immediately felt better after the surgery Freddie says, and within a day or two she said she felt better than she ever had and only a few weeks later, she was riding a bike.

“She would call me randomly, just to say thank you, and I remember this one particular time she called me from her kitchen where she was cooking and dancing. She wasn’t able to do that before, to live such a normal life.”

Unfortunately, only one year after the transplant, Anna Maria passed away, due to an underlying condition that was unrelated to her kidney disease or transplant. Asked if he regretted the surgery, Freddie says “Absolutely not. She was able to live a completely normal life for that year and that makes me very happy.”

One person can start a chain reaction

Freddie’s story doesn’t end there. He’s become an advocate for organ donation in BC where he will be speaking to community groups and doing outreach to help raise awareness of organ and blood donation registry. Organ donation has also been in the spotlight the past year after the horrific Humboldt Broncos bus crash, in which Logan Boulet’s parents graciously donated their son’s organs and have also become advocates.

Joining the registry is easy, people across Canada can now register online at https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/healthy-living/blood-organ-tissue-donation.html.

Awareness is already helping

About a year ago, Freddie was contacted by a Winnipeg Travel Agent, a friend and client he’d worked with for years. She was starting dialysis and in a similar situation to Anna Maria. He told her she needed to get the word out and he helped spread the word through his monthly newsletter. A retired travel agent in BC has come forward to help. They didn’t know each other beforehand, it was more of “one of our own needing help” and the two are currently going through the process to make sure they’re a fit. That’s exactly the type of awareness Freddie is hoping to spread.

“It’s definitely a process, there are a lot of tests to go through and it’s been shown that people who donate actually have longer life spans because of all the rigorous testing. But it’s easy and there’s minimal change in your life afterwards. Anna Maria had a big love of animals and had saved countless dogs in her life through the rescue. How fitting was it that same love helped her?”