A routine blood test is supposed to bring reassurance—but for 35-year-old Bryan from Agassiz, it delivered life-altering news.

“I didn’t wake up one morning knowing my kidneys were failing. There was no dramatic collapse. No flashing warning sign. Just nausea every morning. A deep exhaustion that never went away. I felt sick all the time, but I kept going because that’s what dads do. That’s what working people do. You push through. Then I had a blood test.

The doctor told me my kidneys were functioning at 12%. I remember the way the room felt after that. Heavy. Quiet. Unreal. I was told I wasn’t going home. I was to go directly to Abbotsford Regional Hospital, where they were already waiting to admit me. No time to process. No time to prepare. One moment I was a regular guy, a dad, living his life. The next, I was a patient with organ failure.”

Four days later, Bryan’s kidney function dropped to 7%. A port was placed in his neck and he started dialysis. For the next two years, his life became a schedule of survival. Three nights a week, he went to the ARH hemodialysis unit for nocturnal dialysis, hooked up to a machine while the rest of the world slept. He spent Christmas, New Year’s, and his 36th birthday in ARH. On October 31, 2023, he received a kidney and a pancreas. Two organs. Two chances at life. A gift that came from someone else’s death, a reality and guilt that never leaves him.

Why Support the ARH Renal Department?

For patients with acute kidney injury or chronic kidney disease, dialysis is needed several times a week. 

Many people don’t realize just how expansive the region is that Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation supports, and that patients often have to travel outside their home community to receive specialized care from a regional program like hemodialysis in Abbotsford. 

When the 2021 floods shut down all transportation routes for Chilliwack and Hope dialysis patients, our community and incenter hemodialysis teams at Abbotsford Regional Hospital partnered with Health Emergency Management BC to arrange helicopter transport and access to vital medications for over 50 patients in the Eastern Fraser Valley. 

That’s why we are raising funds to purchase the ARH renal department their most pressing need: three new ultrasounds that will replace dated equipment and allow improved diagnostic imaging.

• Vascular ultrasound (2 needed) is a non-invasive, painless diagnostic procedure that uses high-frequency sound waves to create real-time images of blood vessels, including arteries and veins, helping diagnose problems like blood clots (DVT), narrowed vessels, and aneurysms. 

• Sonicare 2 portable ultrasound (1 needed) will provide rapid, bedside support, allowing clinicians to evaluate renal structure, detect blockages or kidney stones, and immediately guide interventions.

Together, these investments will ensure patients get answers and care sooner-with a stronger, well-equipped unit that serves the entire Eastern Fraser Valley and merits the most modern, up-to-date technology.  

“My daughter was 8 years old when I got sick. 10 when I got my transplant. 12 now. She saw me change. She saw the tubes, the scars, the exhaustion. She saw her dad go from strong to fragile and still show up anyway. That’s something I will never stop being proud of. People see the transplant scars and think the story ends there. It doesn’t. It keeps going. I am Bryan. A father. A transplant survivor. I am someone who stayed alive when it hurt to exist, because my daughter needed me to. And that is enough of a reason for me.”                 

You can make this possible.

With a gift today, you’ll help bring faster answers and better care to families across our region—and honour patients like Bryan who deserve top-notch care that will allow them to return home to their families sooner. Visit fvhcf.ca/donate to donate today.