Scott's Story

I trust that going the anonymous route means the person who got my kidney is the one who needed it the most.

Scott Ryan, a veteran firefighter in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, has long believed that sharing knowledge, experience and compassion is essential when lives are on the line. The amiable 61-year-old is no stranger to helping others. He has donated blood and plasma and even joined the bone marrow registry as a youth.

So a few years ago, when he read about a local woman receiving a liver transplant through an anonymous organ donor program, Scott was inspired and knew it was something he wanted to do.

"The woman who received the liver is the wife of one of the guys I'm on ski patrol with," he says. "He said the transplant changed her life; I said, 'Wow!'"

Scott knew kidneys could be donated to family members, but the possibility of donating to a stranger—known as altruistic donation—had never occurred to him.

He contacted the Toronto hospital that had done the transplant and was referred to the Multi-Organ Transplant Program that serves the four-province Maritime region. The program does not do live liver transplants and asked him to consider kidney donation. He said yes.

"Why not?" he says. Firefighters are used to undertaking risks even when it means putting their own lives on the line; he views a carefully handled medical donation as "a chance to risk a little to save a lot."

Scott told his siblings of his decision, and they showered him with encouragement. "My oldest sister was probably the biggest fan of the idea," he says.

That support helped carry him through as he underwent 10 months of extensive medical screening to ensure the donation would be safe for him and the recipient. The process included scans, bloodwork, MRIs, a psychological assessment, and—because of his age—a stress test.

Once approved, Scott was matched with a recipient within days. Minimally-invasive laparoscopic surgery swiftly followed, and he returned home to Charlottetown after a two-day hospital stay.

Taking the altruistic route eases the emotional impact in case the recipient experiences complications, Scott says. Most importantly, he adds, it puts doctors in charge of deciding who that recipient should be.

"I trust that going the anonymous route means the person who got my kidney is the one who needed it the most," he says.

Shortly after the operation he was told that the recipient was able "to paint yellow gold. I didn't know that some people with kidney failure weren't able to pee. It's such a basic life function, and I was able to help this person do that."

In 2024, the year Scott donated his kidney, the need for donors was rising. More than 70 per cent of the 4,044 Canadians waiting for an organ needed kidneys. Yet the number of total kidney donors had dropped more than six per cent from the year before.

Research suggests live donation provides the best long-term outcome, but fewer than half of the kidneys donated in 2024 came from live donors. Many of these live donors gave their kidney to someone they knew.

Today, Scott remains in good health and has no regrets. He believes organ donation creates a ripple effect and changes lives; adding that it’s not only beneficial for the recipient but also for the healthcare system by easing pressure on dialysis resources.

"I didn't just help one person," he says. "I took one person off the waiting list and helped everybody else below move up one step closer to their own transplant."

When asked, Scott said with no hesitation: "Definitely, I would do it again."