Susannah McKenzie-Sutter has lost one of her kidneys but says she feels more whole than ever.
The 29-year-old Saint John woman became an organ donor last month for her cousin in Ontario, who needed a kidney transplant.
McKenzie Smith, 40, of Kitchener was in end-stage kidney failure from a genetic form of chronic kidney disease.
Her kidney function had dropped to about four per cent, and doctors predicted she would be in full kidney failure within months.
“It doesn’t really feel like a loss to me,” McKenzie-Sutter said of her donated kidney. “It feels more like a gain because I was able to really help my cousin’s life.”
Susannah McKenzie-Sutter, 29, of Saint John, says she has no regrets about donating one of her kidneys to her 40-year-old cousin from Kitchener, McKenzie Smith, who was in end-stage kidney failure and needed a transplant.
Smith said the transplant, performed Aug. 13 at the London Health Science Centre, has been life-changing.
Her new kidney started working right away, she said, according to the creatinine levels in her blood work. Creatinine is a waste product used to measure how well the kidneys are doing their job of filtering waste from the blood.
“For reference, a normal person’s creatinine is usually between 80 and 100” micromoles per litre, Smith said.
Hers was about 1,100 micromoles per litre before surgery, but today it’s 83.
Information Morning – Saint JohnSaint John woman gives greatest gift
Susannah McKenzie-Sutter recently became a living organ donor to save an ailing relative. Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon brings us the story.
Meanwhile, her kidney function has jumped to 80 per cent, Smith said.
“Just how I feel and the energy that I have, and the clear-headedness is just amazing. I haven’t felt like this in years.
“It’s the best that I’ve ever felt. And I owe that to Suzy.”
Life-changing gift almost blocked by doctor shortage
The transplant almost didn’t happen. McKenzie-Sutter was one of thousands of New Brunswickers without a family doctor or nurse practitioner, and the London hospital told her she couldn’t donate — or even get tested to confirm she was a good candidate — without a primary-care provider.
Potential living donors must have a complete medical checkup to confirm they’re healthy enough. They also require annual checkups to ensure the remaining kidney is working correctly, since it has to work harder to make up for the removed kidney.
The median wait for a kidney from a deceased donor in Canada is more than three years, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. As of the end of 2024, 2,922 people were on a waitlist. Eighty-two people died waiting that year.
Once McKenzie-Sutter knew how urgent her cousin’s situation was, she scrambled to find a doctor. Fortunately, a friend who’s a doctor found a colleague willing to take her as a patient.
Extensive testing to ensure good match
McKenzie-Sutter soon underwent blood and urine tests to confirm her kidney function was good. And in mid-May she travelled to London for testing, including a renal scan, electrocardiogram or EKG and a chest X-ray.
She also had to complete genetic testing to ensure she didn’t have the same defect as Smith, which runs in the family and slowly causes chronic kidney disease.
Her maternal grandfather ended up with a transplant from a car accident victim in the 1970s, while her aunt — Smith’s mother — and Smith’s sister have both had living donor transplants.
In early July, McKenzie-Sutter finally learned she was a good match and the surgery was a go. It was a relief.
“I didn’t want McKenzie have to wait any longer because … if she didn’t get the kidney by the end of the summer, she would have to go on dialysis,” a blood-filtering treatment that can be done at a medical centre three days a week, four hours each day, or daily at home overnight.
The months of waiting — and deteriorating — were “very stressful,” Smith said. She did her best to keep busy and “trust that things will unfold as they’re meant to,” but she, too, was relieved to hear they had made it through the screening process and the transplant would proceed.
$8,000 raised to help cover expenses
McKenzie-Sutter found the five weeks waiting for the surgery “a little bit nerve-wracking.” She’s self-employed as a music teacher and violinist, and many of her students take time off in the summer, so she had time to think.
She wasn’t planning on sharing with people that she was going to donate a kidney until afterward, in case something happened last-minute, she said. But she ended up creating a GoFundMe page to help cover some of the costs.
Although there’s a reimbursement program for living organ donors in Ontario, the up-front costs were significant, at about $6,000, she said.
To her surprise, she raised $8,000 and received many supportive comments. As she noted in a post on the page, she’ll donate any surplus to the Kidney Foundation of Canada.
Night before surgery ‘anxiety-inducing’
The day before the transplant, McKenzie-Sutter drove to London with her partner, Cameron MacLellan, to meet with the surgeon and get more tests.
That night was “definitely very anxiety-inducing,” she said, comparing it to how she feels before performing on violin.
She had to stop eating at 8 p.m., could drink only water, and was back at the hospital with Smith at 5 a.m. for preoperative care.
“It was nice that we were right next to each other so we could, like, chat, and it kind of reminded me why I was there,” McKenzie-Sutter said.
3-hour surgery an immediate success
The laparoscopic surgery, done with three small incisions and a thin, lighted tube with a video camera, lasted three hours.
When McKenzie-Sutter woke up and her loved ones told her her kidney was already working for Smith, she was thrilled.
“That was the one thing I was kind of anxious about leading up to it, is like, what if we go through all this and it doesn’t work?”
‘Kidney buddies for life’
McKenzie-Sutter was able to see Smith the next day. Smith was in a separate hospital room because she’s now considered immunocompromised from the immunosuppressant medications she takes to prevent her body from rejecting the kidney.
“It was really special” and “kind of emotional,” McKenzie-Sutter recalled.
Smith was telling her, ”I can’t believe it, like, you didn’t have to do this,” McKenzie-Sutter said. “And I’m like, ‘But we’re family’ and … it felt, to me, like the right thing to do.”
Smith described that moment as “really meaningful.”
Both women agree the experience has brought them closer. Smith recently sent McKenzie-Sutter a tote bag, adorned with cartoon-character kidneys, that declares them “kidney buddies for life.”
They’ve been in touch regularly, checking in on each other and messaging about their progress.
“We’re on this journey together,” Smith said.
Quick recovery surprising
McKenzie-Sutter said the hardest part for her was being in the hospital. She expected to stay for only two days, but needed a blood transfusion and had to stay for five.
Otherwise, she’s surprised by how quickly she’s recovering, she said.
She had some pain the first week, which made it difficult to sleep or play her violin, but she improved each day and is now “pretty much feeling back to normal,” her incisions already healed into pink scars.
The only real changes, she said, are that she needs to drink lots of water and avoid excess salt and ibuprofen to protect her remaining kidney.
The chances of anything going wrong with that kidney are low, McKenzie-Sutter said, pointing to the extensive testing she underwent. A nephrologist in London will monitor her virtually every few months through blood tests.
Encourages others to donate
Smith’s recovery is also going well. She hasn’t had much pain, is adjusting to her medications and has started walking and biking.
She still refers to her new kidney as McKenzie-Sutter’s kidney or “the kidney.”
“I guess I still have to get my head around that it’s my kidney because for so long, you know, I was looking at it as, I’m receiving Suzy’s kidney,” she said. She expects to adjust as time goes on.
“I feel so grateful that I was given this chance and I feel that I want to make the most of it. I feel like I want to make a difference. I feel like I want to be involved. I feel like I can take on those things that I’ve been putting off … because I just physically didn’t feel capable. And now I do. And that’s really a great feeling.”
Smith hopes others will consider becoming live donors.
“I think that there’s a lot of misinformation out there about the process. … And I think there’s a lot of fear because it’s not well understood. And all I would suggest to somebody that may be considering organ donation is to do your own research.”
Not ‘as scary as it seems’
McKenzie-Sutter agreed.
“It’s not actually as scary as it seems,” she said.
“It’s a very fulfilling thing to do. It does change you as a person, as well.
“To be able to give someone an organ that’s, like, changed their life, it just makes you kind of appreciate your health and … makes you feel really good.”
