Living Transplant

Ajmera Transplant Centre, Toronto General Hospital, UHN
Living Transplant

Living Transplant is a podcast that takes you behind the scenes at the transplant program at Toronto General Hospital with the goal to educate, inspire and fuel your passion about transplant, with your host, Candice Coghlan, an Education & Outreach Coordinator at the Centre for Living Organ Donation and kidney transplant recipient.

  1. Take What You Need, Save My Baby

    SEP 6

    Take What You Need, Save My Baby

    In this episode of the Living Transplant postcast, host, Candice Coghlan was joined by Stephanie Dyriw, a living liver donor to her son. Stephanie was put in a situation no parent could ever imagine, when her healthy, three and a half year old son crashed into liver failure with no warning. Within days, Stephanie and the UHN team worked tirelessly to get the testing done in partnership with SickKids to test to find if she would be a match, and thankfully, within mere days, Stephanie became a living liver donor to her son, saving his life. We are later joined by Dr. Nazia Selzner, a transplant hepatologist and Medical Director of the Living Donor Liver Transplant Program at the Ajmera Transplant Centre, and Dr. Cynthia Tsien, Education Director of the Ajmera Transplant Centre. We spoke about diversity, equity and inclusion in transplant, both for professionals and for patients and families. We discussed how equity, diversity, and inclusion in transplant medicine are crucial to ensuring all patients have fair access to life saving treatments, regardless of their background, leading to better overall health outcomes, and how for professionals, fostering an inclusive environment enhances teamwork, broadens perspectives, and improves decision making, ultimately advancing the field and providing more comprehensive care. Please enjoy. The views and opinions expressed in this episode do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Toronto General or University Health Network. For more information about Great Actions Leave a Mark, please visit greatactions.ca For more information about living liver transplant, please visit https://www.uhn.ca/Transplant/Liver_Transplant_Program  To register for the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Transplant conference, please visit https://deiintransplant.com/  Have questions? Comments? Ideas for an episode? Please reach out to the Centre for Living Organ Donation at livingorgandonation@uhn.ca. Thanks for spending your time with us.

    57 min
  2. We are a Resilient Group

    AUG 15

    We are a Resilient Group

    In this episode of the Living Transplant podcast, host, Candice Coghlan, was joined by Manuel Escoto, the Patient, Family, Donor Partnerships and Knowledge Mobilization Director at CDTRP, the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program alongside Sadia Baig, the Programs Coordinator at the Kidney Foundation of Canada, Ontario branch. What is the common thread between the three of us you might be thinking? Well, all of us are not only working in the field of transplant, donation and chronic illness, but we're all living with kidney disease diagnosed at a young age. We speak about being diagnosed with a chronic disease, the mental and physical roller coasters, working in a professional field that we also have a personal connection to, what it's like to connect with others who are going through something similar, and the importance of advocacy and having a strong network of support. Join the three of us as we dive into these topics in a unique episode where the people with lived experience are also the experts in the field. Please enjoy. The views and opinions expressed in this episode do not necessarily reflect the offical policy or position of Toronto General or University Health Network.  For more information about kidney transplantation, please visit www.livingorgandonation.ca  For more information about CDTRP, please visit https://cdtrp.ca/en/  For more information about the Kidney Foundation of Canada, please visit www.kidney.ca  Have questions? Comments? Ideas for an episode? Please reach out to the Centre for Living Organ Donation at livingorgandonation@uhn.ca. Thanks for spending your time with us.

    1h 1m
  3. It's Not Outrageous: Jillian Best's Epic Swim Across Lake Ontario

    JUL 4

    It's Not Outrageous: Jillian Best's Epic Swim Across Lake Ontario

    In this episode of the Living Transplant podcast, host Candice Coghlan was joined by Jillian Best, the first organ transplant recipient and one in only 72 people to ever swim across Lake Ontario in all of recorded history. Jillian trained, swam and built her mental fortitude so she could swim across Lake Ontario in 18 hours and 36 minutes. She finished the historic 52 kilometer crossing to raise money for the transplant unit who saved her life and her mother's. We are later joined by Dr. Marie Faughnan, a Lung Specialist and HHT specialist at St. Michael's Hospital. As an avid cycler and physician, Dr. Marie was healthy and ready when a colleague of hers experienced liver failure and was in need of a life saving liver transplant. She asked herself, why not me? She went through the process of going from a physician to a patient and became a living liver donor to save her colleague's life. Throughout this episode, we talk about perserverence, commitment, sacrifice and doing hard things with extreme bravery. Please enjoy.  The views and opinions expressed in this episode do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Toronto General or University Health Network. For more information about living liver donation, please visit www.livingorgandonation.ca For more information about Jillian Best's swim across Lake Ontario, please visit https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/q-a-londoner-jillian-best-relives-her-historic-swim-across-lake-ontario/article_5b953b74-c9eb-5944-bb0f-88add77d74d8.html  To listen to Dr. Marie Faughnan's story and other living donors and recipients, please visit www.greatactions.ca  Have questions? Comments? Ideas for an episode? Please reach out to the Centre for Living Organ Donation at livingorgandonation@uhn.ca Thanks for spending your time with us.

    1h 2m
  4. I Don’t Want to Just Survive, I Want to Live

    JUN 6

    I Don’t Want to Just Survive, I Want to Live

    In this episode of the Living Transplant podcast, host Candice, was joined by Dawn Ethier, a police officer and mother of four. Dawn had thyroid cancer over 10 years ago. The cancer was treated, but she was left with hypoparathyroidism, which caused horrible side effects, changed her lifestyle, and took a lot of time away from her family, her work, and her life. Dawn did a lot of research, and with her advocacy and ingenuity, brought the idea of a parathyroid transplant to her doctors, who eventually found Dr. Karen Devon, an endocrine surgeon at UHN's Sprott Department of Surgery.  With only one other recorded case of this exact transplant in scientific literature, Dr. Devon was inspired by Dawn to do homework, connect with specialists around the world, and several years later, cured Dawn's hypoparathyroidism following a ground-breaking North American first procedure at UHN's Ajmera Transplant Centre. This changed Dawn's life, her family's life, and changed the future for patients. The views and opinions expressed in this episode do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Toronto General or University Health Network. For more about Dawn’s story, and the team behind this North American first, please visit https://uhnfoundation.ca/stories/north-american-first-transplant-offers-mother-of-four-a-future-now/ For more information about Ajmera Transplant Centre, please visit https://www.uhn.ca/Transplant Have questions? Comments? Ideas for an episode? Please reach out to the Centre for Living Organ Donation at livingorgandonation@uhn.ca Thanks for spending your time with us.

    59 min
  5. APR 4

    A Piece of Me in Heaven

    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 about their journey together, the medical barriers they and many other First Nations patients face, and the decision for Vanessa to give the gift of life, a kidney to her father, despite his chances of survival being long so he could live his days out in community, surrounded by loved ones.  We were later joined by Dr. Michael Anderson from the Urban Indigenous Community in Toronto. He is Mohawk Bear Clan and mixed European with family roots in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. He practices surgical oncology in palliative care medicine and is the strategic lead for Indigenous Health at the University Health Network. We spoke about ethical Indigenous community healthcare research partnerships, grief, healing, and Indigenous conceptualizations of death and dying. This episode is dedicated, in loving memory to Vanessa's "daddio", Kenneth. The views and opinions expressed in this episode do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Toronto General or University Health Network.  Have questions? Comments? Ideas for an episode? Please reach out to the Centre for Living Organ Donation at livingorgandonation@uhn.ca Thanks for spending your time with us. *** CONTENT WARNING***  A note to our listeners, this episode comes with a content warning as we discuss death, dying, and palliative care. We also discuss barriers to care for Indigenous communities. This is simply to empower you, our audience, with the knowledge that you may need to make healthy decisions about how or if you should consume this podcast content.  If you need resources or support, you can visit the Hope for Wellness helpline, which offers immediate help to all Indigenous people across Canada, available 24/7 with immediate support and crisis intervention. You can call the toll free helpline at 1 855 242 3310, or you can connect to the online chat at hopeforwellness.ca. You can also reach out to the Bereaved Families of Ontario Organization at www.bereavedfamilies.net or call them at 416 440 0290.   For more information about the UHN Indigenous Health Program, please visit: https://uhnfoundation.ca/stories/fostering-a-healthier-relationship-to-improve-access-to-high-quality-care-for-indigenous-communities/  To watch Vanessa Tait's documentary, Gift to Give please visit: https://gem.cbc.ca/gift-to-give/s01  To watch Vanessa Tait's Great Actions Leave a Mark interview, please visit: www.greatactions.ca  To learn more about living kidney donation, please visit: https://www.uhn.ca/Transplant/Living_Donor_Program/Pages/living_kidney_donor.aspx

    57 min

About

Living Transplant is a podcast that takes you behind the scenes at the transplant program at Toronto General Hospital with the goal to educate, inspire and fuel your passion about transplant, with your host, Candice Coghlan, an Education & Outreach Coordinator at the Centre for Living Organ Donation and kidney transplant recipient.

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