Alice Graham and Randy Sokolowski (centre) deliver  festive popcorn to  Emergency Room  RNs Rick Drader  (left)  and Lyn  Ingham (right) 

Prince George, B.C.-  “When I woke up from the surgery,  it was as if  all the lights  came on.”  That’s how Randy Sokolowski describes his  first reaction after undergoing a kidney transplant  a year and a half ago.

He says that because his kidney disease  had  progressed over a long period of time,  he didn’t realize just how sick he had  been until  his post op  awakening. “It’s like when you get a new pair of glasses,   suddenly everything is brighter and clearer.”

Today,  Randy,  his wife Elaine,  along with Alice Graham, whose late husband  was a liver donor,   stopped by the University Hospital of Northern B.C.  to deliver buckets of popcorn to  those in the  health profession who  have  played a role in the transplant process.

Transplants aren’t done  at UHNBC, but the hospital does  have a post  transplant clinic to support  those patients who have undergone  a transplant. “The people here  have to deal  with the  very sad part” says Sokolowski “They have to deal with the families   of donors  and  do the harvesting,  it’s a  delicate and difficult  job”    In his own case,   he was lucky to have a  match in his sister who donated  one of her kidney’s  to make her  brother  well.  The transplant was conducted in Vancouver,  and both  were out of the hospital  within five days.

Sokolowski  still  takes  anti-rejection drugs,  and visits  the  transplant clinic  at UHNBC  to ensure  everything is still on track.

Alice Graham and her husband  had  signed up  to be organ donors  years ago,   but when her husband passed away just shy of the age of 80, she was surprised to  hear  there was a desire to harvest his liver  “When  young Dr. Hillhouse asked me , I said, ‘he’s too old’  and  Dr. Hillhouse said, ‘I don’t think so’ “.   She says  she  understands her late husband was the oldest donor in B.C. and believes  signing up  to be an organ donor is a very  positive and important  thing to do.

Elaine Sokolowski agrees,  saying  Randy’s kidney transplant  has made a  big difference to  them both  “It was a miracle,   and I have my husband back.”