West Prince man overwhelmed as list of potential organ donors grows

A West Prince man who's waiting for a liver transplant now has about 20 new potential donors.

Kevin Clements and his wife Josephine of Montrose, P.E.I., say the volunteers came forward following a CBC News report aboutthem last week.

"It's very overwhelming," said Josephine Clements."It's been really nice and humbling to have so many people want to give a piece of themselves to a total stranger. That's a lot to give."

Clements saidher phone "hasn't stopped" ringing as people contact her to ask how they can help.

Her husbandis living withlife-threatening liver conditionhepatopulmonary syndrome, whichaffects his breathing and blood-oxygen levels.

Tight timeline

The potential donors are from Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I.,Clementssaid.

She has set up a Facebook groupto keep potential donors up to date on her husband's progress. They're also filling out donor applications forthe living donor programand getting blood tests tosee if they may be a match.

About one in four potential donors turn out to be a match, according to Clements.

Buttime is ticking.

"There's going to be point, where if Kevin'stoo bad, the surgery won't be happening," she said.

Kevin will undergo more tests on P.E.I. in coming days, she said, whichwill determine if he is placed on the list for a living liver donation surgery at Toronto General Hospital. If all goes well, they will travel to Toronto next month.

"Hopefully, when we go down in March, they'll have found a match and we'll get the operation soon after that," said Clements.

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