A daughter's love knows no bounds, especially when it comes to illness.
In Port Coquitlam, Joshy Reddy is prepared to do what ever it takes to find a donor kidney for her father, Dan.
"When it comes to my dad, I'm emotional," Joshy said.
But she's also strong.
For the past several weeks since her father's diagnosis in December, Joshy has been advocating for her father through the medical health system — and on social media.
She fought to get him into dialysis sooner than his scheduled appointment at Royal Columbian Hospital and she's also shared her story on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook in the hopes of finding a kidney match for her dad.
"I love him. He's my best friend," she said.
Unfortunately, the family is unable to find a match: His blood type is A+ and a suitable match would be A-, A+,0- and 0+.
Without a donor, her father has a three- to six-month wait and possibly longer, said Joshy, plus a wait time for surgery.
A challenging condition
Dan Reddy, 69, has been a truck driver working for Lilydale Food Products in PoCo up until two weeks ago.
Now, he's weak and his legs have became swollen.
Dan would usually be keeping his house and yard tidy; however, he currently has a port and is waiting for his first dialysis treatment.
"His kidney levels were dropping in December [and] they should have had the referral in, but they didn’t. They were hoping he was going to go up."
Joshy said her social media posts have gone "viral" with thousands of people commenting or sharing the posts, including Mayor Brad West and PoCo Coun. Steve Darling.
Still, she checked with the transplant department at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and no one has signed up to be a donor.
"That's alright," said Joshy. "I know there is an angel out there. It’s just a matter of when."
How to become an organ donor in B.C.
She said she understands that most people aren't aware that they can donate a kidney and still be healthy with one.
Joshy hopes someone out there is willing to help her dad — or one of the more than 400 people who are waiting for an organ transplant, according to the most recent BC Transplant statistics.
"All these people are going through the heartache of dialysis [and] my heart breaks for them," said Joshy.
"Until you’ve been in a situation with a loved one who is going through dialysis you don’t know what it entails. It’s very tough."
On her TikTok video, Joshy implores people to consider being a living donor and encourages them to call the VGH transplant clinic at 604-875-5182, and cite Transplant #25209.
Find out more about kidney donation on the Kidney Foundation of Canada website
As well, on the BC Transplant website you can learn about the organ donation process in B.C. for living or deceased donors and take two minutes to register as an organ donor.
