This february you could say John Cech (pronounced 'check') will mark his 33rd birthday, although his actual age is more than twice that. Gracious, charming and intrisically humble, you would hardly expect that he is a man making medical history as having recieved one of the longest lasting kidney transplants-33 years and still counting.
Having emigrated from the former Czechoslovakia, John arrived in Canada in 1951. He soon met Helen ( who was to become his lifelong companion) in Thunder Bay, Ont and eventually they moved to Vancouver. In 1967 John bought a comfortable home in East Vancouver with a sunny front yard... but his good luck soon changed.
In 1968, John's life took a detour. Beset with a nagging throat infection and a family doctor who refused to prescribe antibiotics, John's immune system fell under attack. He grew increasingly weaker so Helen circumvented the doctor and took John to get a second opinion. It was immediately obvious that John was seriously ill, and that the 'harmless' throat infection that did not warrant concern by John's doctor had destroyed his kidneys
Long before the days of home care visits, John had to rely on Helen for everything, even the most basic of necessities. John deteriorated to the point where his arms and legs were so debilitated that he was bed-ridden and couls no longer feed himself. Dialysis became John's lifeline but it was an onerous process that could only do so much. In fact, on peritoneal dialysis he felt worse. Employed at Vancouver General Hospital, John started his shift around midnight and went home at 7am. When he wasn't sleeping or working, he was back on dialysis; there were times when he dialyzed for 24 straight hours .
With all his energy spent on maintaining this routine, John was too weak to be proactive about his condition. Helen took care of him in every capacity and sucessfully championed his case to the nephrologists screening for possible transplant patients. In February 1970, a six-year-old girl succumbed to a severe case of measles and her parents graciously donated her organs. John recieved one of her kidneys; at the time of transplant it was no bigger than the size of his thumb.
Unlike transplant recipients today, those pioneer patients were not under general anesthetic during the operation. After recieving a local to his spine, John listened to the four hour operation as a surgical team removed his kidneys and transplanted a new one. The first three days with his new kidney went well, it functioned normally. On the fourth day, however, it stopped. John was back on dialysis. The doctors thought his kidney was probably in shock.
After a week, John felt the urge to urinate while he was on dialysis. Surprised, the attending nurse gave him an empty receptacle in which to relieve himself. His kidney appeared to be functioning normally, so he was taken off dialysis. His kidney hasn't caused him a moment's concern since that week in 1970 (although a few years ago some scar tissue began blocking his renal artery;angioplasty sucessfully rectified the problem).
With a second chance at life made possible, John was able to work again and was hired to handle the audio-visual department at a school for nursing. For 25 years he maintained and operated the school's audio-visual equipment as his job description outlined, but he was better known (and I dare say appreciated) for his extra-curricular duties. John always went into work early so that he could have a pot of coffee ready for the staff's arrival. If a car battery or a tire went flat, a pair of glasses needed tightening, or a watch broke, staff and students knew they could count on John to fix it.
Now in retirement, John propogates life with his green thumb-an avid gardener, he can encourage peach trees to grow in his front yard. If he is not playing snooker with friends or dancing, then he probably travelling with Helen somewhere around the world...they have already been to South Africa, the Caribbean, Cuba and Europe.
"I owe it all to Helen," John is quick to mention. "She took care of me, even when I was at my worst...and I could be very cranky! While I was on dialysis I saw other couples break up because the patient's husband or wife could not deal with their spouses or the strain that the illness placed on them. After all that, I hope she [Helen] thinks it was worth it." John winks and chuckles.
