Shelby Pavlovic and her son. (Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Teagan Rasche

A or O blood types

Medicine Hat mom looking for living kidney donor

Apr 5, 2022 | 4:44 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Sitting in her living room, Shelby Pavlovic speaks fondly of her 11-year-old son and friendly dog as she enjoys a day off from dialysis.

The 30-year-old has Alport syndrome and is in kidney failure after a 2016 transplant stopped working last May.

“They flew me to Calgary and I stayed for almost a month,” Pavlovic said. “They ran a bunch of different tests to see what was happening with it and every procedure that they tried to fix it, was unsuccessful.”

Pavlovic was sent home to rest for three months and just when she was starting to feel better.

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“I ended up catching COVID and I got very, very sick and I was in a coma for just over a month, in the hospital for two months,” Pavlovic said.

During those months, her kidney started working again but soon crashed.

“Now I’m on the road to looking for a live donor,” Pavlovic said.

This time around, finding a new match is more complicated for a few reasons.

First, her three siblings also have Alport syndrome and have all undergone kidney transplants.

Second, any time our bodies are exposed to a foreign object, including a donor organ, antibodies are made. Pavlovic carries antibodies against her own kidneys and her transplant.

“We have a scarcity of deceased organs that results in really long waiting times which is why a living donation is so critical because you can shorten your time on dialysis tremendously,” said Sita Gourishankar, acting medical director, kidney transplant program and director of Living Kidney Donation Program.

Pavlovic waited four years for her first kidney which is why she’s now looking for a living donor with A or O blood types from anywhere in Canada.

“A lot of people just don’t know about it,” Pavlovic said. “If you don’t know anybody that it affects, then there’s no way to help.”

A new kidney would allow her to travel again, go back to work as a realtor and be there as her son continues to grow up.

Anyone interested can call Living Donor Services at 403-944-4635.