Well, and it's very slow progressing. I mean, it sounds like you had a very similar experience where you're working and you're going hard, and you can come up with all the reasons why you are tired or, you know, you can't function properly. Or I mean, for me, I was a little bit younger. I was twenty five. I had finished university. I had finished my master's degree, and I had started working, and I was exhausted. And I felt like I was this person that couldn't handle a real job. You know, you came up with any excuse possible before you the doctor tells you your blood pressure's in stroke level, and you have this whole other reality crash down on you.

I almost wish that there was something that was so outwardly visible just so people could see. Right?

Yes.

There there are days where, I don't, like, I don't have the energy to do things. And I I try as much as I can. It's like sometimes I wake up in the morning, and within a half hour, I need to lie down. That's really difficult when you're trying to still be a productive member of society. You're still trying you know, I'm very passionate about my field. I love I love looking into, you know, acts of malfeasance and trying to see if I can write an injustice or shine a light on some good that somebody's doing. And it it kills me when it's like I just don't have the energy to do things.

It's hard, and you wanna keep your job, and you wanna not keep your job. You wanna keep working because your mental health is probably quite dependent on it. I know mine was. And, you know, before we go further, why don't we talk a little bit about that? You are a journalist, and, you know, you're a curious and passionate person. Did you always wanna become a journalist?

I actually did.

I love that.

Yeah. So it took me a long while to get get here, but, from a very young age, I wanted to be a journalist. And my father just didn't think it was a very good career choice. You know? He he wanted you know, he wanted me to be a lawyer.

Yeah. Oh, my parents did too. I think everybody does.

Right. So, I did my undergrad in poli sci, and I got into law school, and I had a big conversation with my father where I said, like, you know what? I'm just not ready for this yet. I wanna go do grad school, and I'm gonna go to grad school instead, and, all of that. And he was like, okay. You know, go to grad school, but you'll go to law school afterwards. Right? I went to grad school. I got the job that I was supposed to get, like, in government and senior level bureaucrat and all of that kind of stuff, but my job took a long time to kick in. And I wasn't it was one of those things where it was like I had a lot of time. And so I just said, you know, just for fun, I'm gonna freelance because, you know, I'm just gonna see if I can be a writer. And by the time my job started, I just hated it. And I was like, no. I've got a I'm gonna I went back to school. So I quit a very good job that took a year to get.

Wow. Good for you.

Yeah. An executive level government job just straight out of grad school to say, nope. I wanna go be a traffic reporter. So, but I'm I am so happy that I did because I went back to school while working full time as a traffic reporter and freelancing and writing articles about technology, things I had no business writing about. I was googling every single thing that I was writing about. But, yeah, I'm really, really happy because I feel like I've been very blessed to have a career where I feel like I am making a difference, and I get to learn something new every day.

Yeah. You I mean, you tell great stories, and, like, who wouldn't wanna do that? It sounds like such a varied job. I don't think I would guess, there's no day that are the same.

No. No. And it and it's really it's really great like that. Sometimes because of kidney disease, I wish it was a little bit more monotonous. You know? Data entry might be a little bit easier to do my dialysis machine versus, like, in-depth research, and trying to have phone calls when your machine's beeping and, you know, you're trying to deal with things. But, yeah, I'm really, really lucky. And as are you, because now you're doing this. And isn't it fun?

I am. It is fun. I get to meet all these different people, and I get to tell all these amazing stories. So I feel very fortunate to do it to do that as well. Do you know the power of checking a box and having a conversation? How one simple decision to say yes, yes to organ donation, can mean the difference between life and death for someone else? Have you done it? Have you told your family? Have you signed your organ donor card? If not, why? Here's what's at stake. One organ donor can save up to eight lives. Right now, in Ontario alone, about fourteen hundred people are waiting for a life saving transplant. And every three days, someone dies still waiting. Last year, just over a thousand organs were transplanted from deceased donors. That's one thousand second chances and a thousand families who didn't have to say goodbye too soon. But for many, the call never comes. Christina knows this better than most, and she's not just waiting. She's advocating. Through her work with the Kidney Foundation and organ donation organizations, she's making sure more people understand what's at stake. Because becoming an organ donor isn't just a medical decision. It's a human one, and it starts with you. I wanna go back to a couple of things because you talked about so many things on your, from the moment you were diagnosed with kidney disease to needing the transplant to going through which family member was your living donor to living with a transplant and now on dialysis. You talked a lot about how people can't see it. So when we're sick. Let's talk a little bit about how people can't see it post transplant. So you and I know this, but it's not common knowledge. A transplant isn't a cure. It's a treatment. And I don't think fully people I don't think many people fully understand what life is like after a kidney transplant. So let's talk a little bit about what do you think the biggest myth or misunderstanding people have about life post transplant?

You know, I really struggled with with the weight gain because of the steroids that you put they put you on. I actually had a viewer write into me, saying, you know, I'm worried about your health, and maybe you're not eating right. And, yeah, you you you end up gaining a lot of weight. Like, at least for me, it was my face and and just everywhere. None of my clothes fit. And it wasn't because I was all of a sudden eating whatever I wanted. It was literally because I was on steroids, and I I still am on steroids. It's just a much reduced dose, especially at the beginning. You know, that to me was a big thing because I think people expected that I would just bounce back. And while I inside, I felt great, there was outwardly, I probably even looked sicker because I did blow it out.

Yeah. People don't expect you to look like that after. I think for me, some of the medications, the tremors were quite bad right after. And then also you you mentioned and you talked about how it's likely you lost your kidney because of COVID, but I'm assuming that in conjunction with that was the lack of an immune system. And I think that's what I struggle with most is people forget that as much as I may look like you and we can do the same things, I don't have an immune system, and there are risks that are not risks for you.

It it's it's so true. I really struggled during COVID when I would because I I do wanna hear people out, but, you know, if you weren't gonna be vaccinated, then you you couldn't come near me. You couldn't come in our house.

Yeah. And I was the bad guy.

And it was really difficult because people are like, you're not old. No. But I have no immune system. There's a reason why transplant patients were top priority with ninety year olds to get vaccines because we don't have anything to fight it. We had to choose. And I was getting messages. I don't know about you, but I was getting messages from the hospital saying, please make sure

But highlighted. They're never highlighted. They were highlighted.

Yeah. Make sure you take your medicine. Please do not take your anti or your immunosuppressant. Stop. Like, just take everything. Do not lose your organ to try and combat this, because I'm sure people were trying to pick, like, what were you gonna do?

Yeah. Exactly. Well, and you you talk about with the ninety being prioritized with the ninety year olds. Even before COVID, the flu shot way back when before Shoppers Drug Mart even had them, We me and my immediate family, my husband and my children, we all take it. But I was prioritized at the doctor's office with the ninety year olds, most of them, you know, with oxygen tanks and immunosuppressant, other things, and then me. And that is something I think people don't see on a regular basis, and they don't appreciate it, and they forget, and I find it extremely frustrating.

It is. It is. You know, we we've had I'm I'm sure we had hand sanitizer before, but certainly after the transplant, those hand sanitizer are right at the front door. Yeah. Because as soon as you walk in, just so you don't ruin any you know, you don't touch outside stuff right away. And, I don't think that people can really appreciate that. No. But that was how we were living. You know, the first days of COVID, I don't know about you, Amy, but I was

Scary.

I was a shut in.

I didn't go to the grocery store for eight months. My husband went. And before we understood everything, so in March and April, I guess, I would say Yeah. He was washing the fruit and, you know, taking the bags off in the garage, and he was my my husband, Steven, is fantastic about protecting me. And but the stress on him to make to to protect something that he didn't know anything about or understand the parameters of was a toll. And and, yeah, I was a shut in. Absolutely a shut in. I I didn't go anywhere.

Yeah. There was little even even just I need dog food. I I can't go get the dog food. Please go pick up my prescription. I need shampoo. Let me see what old shampoos I I didn't wanna use anymore because I I just I couldn't go anywhere. We were the the level of concern was so great.

Yeah. And it I mean, even to go back further, I so I have reflux, which is, I call it peeing backwards, but it's, you know, similar to heartburn, but with the kidneys. And so for a while there, my old kidneys were still active, and they would get infected quite frequently because they're useless, and that's what they would do. And I would get sick, and my new kidney was fine. And but I would be out for a bit, and one was during Christmas. And I was like, oh, I'll try and order. It was before you could really shop online. I was in the I was like, if I could order everything online from my couch, I would be in heaven. And so I'm happy about that now, but it was way back before you could. I think I could only order from, like, indigo or something like that.

Right. Right. It's different. Right? And, you know, going up for a couple glasses of wine, something I was doing when I after my transplant because it you know, as long as you're drinking in moderation and all of that kind of stuff. But now it's like, I'm on liquid restrictions. I I'm only supposed to be drinking about a liter a day. So a glass of wine is like, well, I guess that's my coffee. Right? Like, it's Right.

It's a choice. These choices that you make. Yeah.

I have to choose. Same you know, it's and in the wintertime, it's really difficult because I I really depend on coffees and teas to keep me warm. Right? And soups.

I drink, like, four or five cups of tea a day. I wouldn't do well. I I was fortunate not to be on dialysis, so I learn a lot from the things that you're talking about. And, reduced liquid, that would be that would be difficult. I mean, I I I was on extremely reduced diet to preserve my old kidney prior to transplant, so I did go through some of that for a short period of time. It's

not easy. It it isn't because it's not like people are saying, oh, don't eat fast food. Fine. Yeah. Obviously, don't eat fast food. But, also, it's you know, don't eat cheese.

Protein. Nuts. Yeah. Proteins. Nuts. All of it.

You think you're being good by having, like, flaxseed bread? No. Absolutely not. Please go get white Wonder Bread.

I wonder I ate white bagels and cream cheese for a very long time. Those were the only things that I could really fit in to how I was feeling and what I was allowed to have.

Yeah. It becomes like literally, I think of a bagel as fast fast food now. Right? Because because it is. It's like the fastest thing I can make. And you know?

Because when you're tired, you don't wanna cook all this all the things.

All the things.

All the I tried the one I was all after the transplant even, I was because you're supposed to still keep everything in line and have this diet and all these things, and I tried. I'm not a very good cook. I tried desperately to make homemade pasta sauce because it's supposed to be good and forgot to put the lid on the blender, and it went everywhere. And I had a full meltdown, and it was it just was like the epitome of this is my new life, and I don't have a handle on it. I don't know how I'm gonna make this all work.

Yeah. It's, I have way too much pasta in my life, but it's something that I'm allowed to eat. Right?

That's right.

And if that's where I'm gonna use use my I think it's three ounces of cheese I'm allowed a a week, which is to me, like, that I used I used to live off of cheese.

Yes. I could eat a whole block of cheese a day.

Oh, so could I. Like, easy, easy. So it's, I've just kind of learned that, you know, if I wanna have a pickle, it's gotta be my favorite kind of pickle, and, like, it's like a twenty dollar jar. And so you take your, like, half a pickle. So it has to be, like, that's the half pickle that I will have this week. And the cheese has to be the best cheese because I'm not gonna waste it on, like, a craft single. Right?

I agree. Yes.

Right.

No. Completely. So you're on dialysis now. What's next then in that sense?

I mean, I'm on the transplant list. So I do have some friends and family that have gone through testing or and, have been ruled out already. So, you know, I I at some point, I I think this is my push to actually tell people what's happening because this really is the first time that I'm speaking openly about this, about my new diagnosis.

Yes. Mhmm.

Because it was a lot to handle. And it came in as I was in the middle of doing a couple of specials out west, and, you know, I still wanted to finish a documentary that I was working on. So I was just I was quite frankly, like, holding on for my life, this time around, trying to finish my jobs, but also deal with a brand new reality that came to me. I I I say out of nowhere. I mean, I knew for a couple of months, I just kept thinking that if I just drink enough water, everything will get better.

Everything will be fine. I I would probably be in denial too because I think, you know, we settled in and and and we know the rules and we know the parameters, and to have it shift again would be quite overwhelming. Yeah.

But, yeah, I'm gonna continue working on my my projects and, you know, doing the best that I can.

Well and you also give back so much. Like, you are quite involved with, organ donation in Ontario and the Kidney Foundation, and probably that's challenging now. But in past years, tell us a little bit about the work you've done with them.

Well, the McKinney Foundation reached out to me when I went public, several years ago, and they asked if I would be part of their campaign. Would they have a campaign in March? And it was, you know, making videos and doing all of these things. And and so I continued doing that for them. And then, I became MCs, and I shared my story quite well. They actually, they awarded me the public warn awareness award, I think, in twenty twenty two, because I just kept on doing this. So anytime the Kidney Foundation reaches out, they need a moderator or anything like that, I'm happy to to pitch in, You know, never thinking that I would ever need them again, and then lo and behold, here I am. But yeah. And anytime somebody asks, I think that everybody with even within Trillium, like, the the organ donation organization, anytime anybody asks anything about organ donation, they know. Just call Christina. She she will volunteer to be a moderator or to speak. I mean, nobody's asking me to plant trees or, like, walk miles. It's it's really there. But I'm happy to do it, and I'm happy to continue to advocate for it because even though I didn't know that I would ever be there again, I think I'm a good example of why we have to continue talking about it because just because I got a transplant just like in and I'm sorry to say it, Amy, but in your case, it's a treatment. It's not a cure. It's it's, you know, hopefully I really do sincerely hope that you'll never be in my shoes, but but but it is a reality for many people.

Right? It is a real I mean, I've I was twenty five. I've had it for twenty five years. That's good. It is fantastic, and I'm very grateful to my sister for donating it. But I say to them, like, I I kind of try and say, what's like, what am I looking for? How I'm I'm fearful a little bit about how long it lasts. Because when I was twenty five, I was like, I need a little more information. How does this work, and what do I expect? And they're like, oh, look. Lots of people have had it for twenty five years, and they're eighty five. And I'm like, well, I won't be eighty five, so I need a little more context on what I'm looking for or how do I handle this. And it's a lot of unknown, which I find I try not to focus on too too much, but it's always there.

Because they don't want they don't want somebody to feel pressure. Right? So Brenda could find out that she's perfect, and everything's a go, and she's healthy enough, and we're a match, and, she's passed gone through some mental counseling to make sure and all of these great things. But at the end of the day, they're still going to wait and not schedule anything quick. In fact, that's what happened with Christina and I. She thought that I knew.

Oh, wow.

And I hadn't talked to her in a month. And I had no idea that she had been approved. And all of a sudden, I got an email saying, you know, here's your next appointment for this. Here's this. And, you know, on the thirteenth, you're having a transplant. And it was like, what? I sent this out of an email. And so I immediately called her, and I said, did you know this? She's like, yeah. I was wondering why you weren't calling. And it was like, she she thought that they would tell me at the same time. But, no, they gave her, like so I found out, you know, a month or six weeks later, and she just thought that I was being really weird and not calling.

Wow. I did

not know that.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So they really they really do take care of their donors. Right? Make sure that they are in a good position.

And I I think you you you mentioned it just quickly that your your cousin is after post transplant was healthy and able to live a complete life. My sister is the same. I mean, the she jokes sometimes that the follow-up was nothing because because she was very healthy and well taken care of. But once she was healthy, and then it was fine because we forget that sometimes people are born with one kidney, and you can live with one kidney really without any adverse effects to your life for the most part.

It's it's true. She's so healthy. I I hope that, you know, when I'm in my mid fifties, that I can be as active as she is because this this woman is, like, an avid canoer. She, you know, she I don't know. She's got two massive dogs that she chases. She's she's always building things, and she's outdoors oh, she's she's literally like a Jane of all trades, and I just I don't have the energy to keep up with her. I don't think anybody I ever would've. But yeah. Yeah. It's, it's nice to see, or I'm very thankful to see that it didn't have a negative impact on her.

Yes. Because that is not the idea. It's supposed to help, and you're supposed to still be able to live your life at the end of the day. So before we go, let's just talk a little bit about some of the things that you're doing. You reference these documentaries. When are they out, and what can we watch?

So most of them have already been out. They're called Veracity. And so we have, you know, if you Google Veracity prison moms, for example, that's where we spent time with women that are in federal jail prisons, trying to raise their kids. Some of them alongside them in the prison, some of them, you know, through the bars. Wow. But

We'll put all the links in the show notes so everybody can go watch, but I wanna hear more.

Oh, yes. I appreciate that.

Yes. Absolutely. I love a good documentary personally, so I'm all in.

Well, and everything and everything's focused on Canada stuff. Right? So we attract, the source of illegal crime guns. And, you know, we we speak with a gun smuggler and the cops that actually tracked them down. We've done sex trafficking ones where we've staked our hotels and sex trafficking joints and and held police to account for, frankly, not knowing when things are happening and not actually doing anything. And you'd be surprised because I don't know. I wish I sometimes I wish I told happier stories, but, you know, there there sometimes there's good stories of redemption. Right? I just spent a lot of time with a a convicted murderer and a convicted violent offender, and, you know, they're both out now, and that's in a film called Debt to Society. And one of them has completely turned his life around, and now he's a cowboy, and he's a welder, and he's living on a farm and raising animals. And he's really atoning for his previous acts. And, I don't know. Sometimes I I think I'm really honestly, Amy, I'm just so lucky that I get to tell these stories. I really am.

Well, I look forward to watching all of them. And, I I wanna really thank you again for taking the time to tell your story and talk about your recent story because losing the kidney and having to face the donor that gave it to you is not an easy thing to do in a private room, let alone on a public forum. So I commend your courage for doing that.

Thank you, Amy. Thank you so much for having me. This has been an absolute pleasure.

Aw. Well, it's a privilege for me. I mean, I do some work with the Kidney Foundation, and I do come across transplant patients and but I don't think I've ever really had this type of a conversation with a fellow transplant patient sort of being able to talk about the same things and have the same understandings of the things that you say. So it's been a real privilege for me as well.

Yeah. Thank you. Best of luck.

Thank you. And to you too. I will be watching your story with great interest.

Thanks so much, Amy.

Voices of Leadership is part of the Bespoke Productions Hub network of independent podcasters. If you are interested in partnering with us as a sponsor or if you have a podcast of your own, please visit bespoke productions hub dot com for more information. This episode is hosted, produced, and edited by me, Amy Schluter.