A woman with a rare condition from this province is taking out billboards from here to Nova Scotia in search of a kidney donor.
In 2011, Karen Halleran went into stage four renal failure due to a rare autoimmune disease called Wegener’s, necessitating the need for a kidney transplant.
Due to her having what’s known as 100 per cent antibodies, her doctor described the search for a compatible donor as looking for a needle in a haystack.
In February of 2020, her family took out billboards to aid in the search, but even though over 100 people came forward, a match wasn’t found.
The search was curtailed by the pandemic, and now the family has taken out more billboard space, stretching as far as Halifax airport, to broaden the search.
Halleran and her family express some frustration with processes at Eastern Health around access to certain information about transplants.
As well, she says some people have been trying to reach out about her case, but can’t seem to get through.
She says that’s discouraging, and wonders if she should just focus her effort on living because she doesn’t want to waste her time.
Anyone with information that could help is asked to call 777-3601.