A Calgary high-school teacher finally has the kidney he needs, thanks to the generosity of Airdrie truck driver Tony Timmons. Ryan McLennan, a 42-year-old auto body and mechanics teacher at Father Lacombe High School, was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2002. According to McLennan, his mother had donated him one of her kidneys roughly 15 years ago, but his body started to reject it last year – forcing him to spend the last several months living with a dialysis machine. After no suitable kidney donors were found within his family for a second transplant, McLennan and his wife, Shakina, decided to purchase advertising space on billboards last February, explaining their situation and need for a live kidney donor. According to McLennan, the couple purchased 27 billboards throughout Calgary and Edmonton. “We spent years and years looking for a donor within our family and friends,” he said. “There were a lot of down points, because the doctor basically said we weren’t going to find anyone within our own DNA circle – we had to go outside of our circle. “So, what do you do? I only know so many people, so that’s when we knew we had to do something.” The billboard campaign helped spread the message, according to McLennan, but a suitable match was still elusive – even after 170 people had reached out and 50 applications were submitted. “The applications are quite in-depth, and I think when people got them, it scared them off a little bit,” he said. “We had 20 people denied just from the application.” Finally, along came Timmons. The FedEx truck driver, who calls Airdrie home, said he noticed the billboard while driving to work one day. “I saw it on one of the billboards up by the airport,” he said. “When I got home, I told my wife about it, and she said she’d seen a clip on the news about it.” After doing some research on kidney transplants, Timmons said, he decided to get the testing done to see if he was a match. He donates blood regularly, he said, and already knew he had the appropriate blood type. “You can live perfectly fine with one kidney, so why wouldn’t I?” he said. After dozens of potential donors had been ruled out one by one, McLennan said he was floored when he learned a match had finally been found. “I just literally sat down in the chair and said, ‘No way. That’s impossible,’” he said. “I wrote him a note to contact me, and he did. We met up and it was an instant connection.” The two got along well right from the get-go, according to McLennan, and went into surgery Nov. 28. Though he is still recovering, McLennan said the kidney transplant has already been life-changing. “With the dialysis, I was always so tired,” he said. “By 9:30 p.m., my eyes would be very heavy. It’s hard to shower, you have to be extremely careful with infection, you can’t go in a hot tub [and] it’s extremely hard to travel.” Timmons is still recuperating from the operation as well, and said the pain medication has helped. “I’m still on all types of drugs, but as long as you take them all at the right times, it’s not too bad,” he said. For McLennan, the generous gift he received from Timmons offers him a new chapter in life – and he said he is incredibly thankful. “The chapter could be a year, 10 years, 20 years – you never know how long a kidney is going to last, but I’m going to take advantage of every second,” he said. “I’ve had friends for 20 years who wouldn’t even go for a blood test, and then you have someone like [Timmons], who just did it all. "Whatever made him make that phone call, God bless him.”
