World historic kidney-swap couple back home

“I’m glad to have my life back again,” Germaine Allum told Sunday Newsday from her Petit Valley home six weeks after returning from Baltimore, Maryland where she underwent surgery in what was the world’s first simultaneous “triple swap” kidney transplant operation, in July. “It was nice coming home with family and friends around and I’m trying to get my life back in order.” That, Germaine explained, entailed paying telephone and electricity bills, medical loans, venturing outdoors and eating what she wants. However, she must ensure to take her eight forms of medication on a daily basis — one of which costs US$1,000 per month — go for blood tests — which has been reduced from once weekly to once monthly — diet and exercise. The auditor with accounting firm Ernst & Young will resume work at their offices next month but is unsure as to where she will be assigned. “The doctors said that it’s important that I exercise but to not strain myself with anything; everything in moderation.”

As a result of Germaine’s five-year ordeal since she has been diagnosed with kidney disease, and  her lengthy stay under dialysis, she now suffers from osteoporosis and has lost two inches in height. Her fianc? and school sweetheart of 13 years Paul Boissiere, who understood that saving Germaine’s life meant that he had to give up one of his kidneys, stood by her side from the moment he “laid eyes on her.” Due to her illness, Germaine suffered from a series of disorders including acid reflux and numerous bouts of vomitting and nausea, she was bedridden and last year, suffered from atrophy of the muscles and deep vein thrombosis. “We have been together for so long, I told myself ‘Why run away now?’ When Germaine was basically bedridden, I had to work and take care of her, but then I had to make a choice between the two, because she couldn’t walk or eat. So, I quit my job,” said the electric contract worker. On a trip to attend her grandmother’s funeral in Canada last year, Germaine suffered from deep vein thrombosis aboard the aircraft. She had been accompanied by her father. “Doctors said that condition resulted from sitting too long on the airplane. She got a blood clot in her leg and it moved up to her heart. Germaine had to be taken off the plane on a stretcher. She suffered two cardiac arrests, and her lungs collapsed,” said Paul. The couple said that they have learned to deal with all of their hardships — including Germaine’s seven-minute near-death experience when doctors had to use a defibrillator to revive the 29-year-old during the kidney transplant — without letting emotions get in the way. “When things happen our strategy is to not take it on; you just deal with it on a daily basis. If Germaine gets sick, you just figure how to pay for it,” Paul added.

“We want to let people (kidney patients) out there know that they have options. A kidney doesn’t have to come from a family member. Many people are dying because there are not enough kidneys available. Thankfully it worked out that Germaine was able to get a kidney from a non-relative unlike the law in Trinidad where the donor must be blood related,” he said. Germaine plans to keep in contact with her donor Connie Dick of Pennsylvania and send her a greeting card for Christmas. She added: “I want to thank family and friends who have been extremely supportive. We definitely could not have gotten through this financially and emotionally by ourselves... Ernst & Young have treated us very well. I couldn’t think of a better company to work for.” Germaine welcomes any assistance she can attain to help her meet medication expenses. To do so contributions can be made to the “Germaine Allum Kidney Fund” account #171982 at Scotia Bank, Frederick Street branch.