Help find a kidney donor for Dave Ruuskanen

Our Greatest Hero needs a kidney transplant. Can you share your spare?

Dave has Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD1), a genetic disease inherited from his Dad. He now has less than 10% kidney function remaining.

Unfortunately, we’ve exhausted all options within our family and close circle of friends and are expanding our search to find an altruistic donor with an O blood type.

Share your spare kidney.

Are you an O blood type and willing to donate your kidney? Please fill out the application form below to be tested or check out our FAQ.

Spread the word.

Please help us spread the word. The more people that hear his story, the more likely we are to find a match!

Dave’s passions

Meet his family

  • A 'living donation' happens when a person who is alive gives a kidney to someone with end-stage kidney disease. People lead healthy lives with one kidney!

    After donation, your remaining kidney will increase in size and take over the whole job of filtering your blood. We’re very lucky everyone has 2 kidneys because there are a lot of people who can help save lives through living donation!

    Please click to learn more about UHN’s Living Kidney Donation program.

  • A living kidney or liver donor could be a spouse, family member, friend, co-worker or stranger.

    Donors must be:

    • Older than 16 years of age for liver donation;

    • Older than 18 years of age for kidney donation;

    • A healthy weight for their height;

    • In good health without diabetes, cancer, kidney or heart disease; and

    • Willing to freely donate.

  • Submit a Donor Health History Form to UHN, along with documentation of your blood type (if available) to the Living Kidney Donor program.

    If you are suitable to begin the evaluation process, the living kidney donor program will discuss the next steps with you to begin your evaluation.

  • Learn more about what to expect at every step of your living donor journey. For a comprehensive list of helpful resources that will guide you through your donor journey as well as articles and videos on living organ donation, visit the UHN Resource Library.

  • Unfortunately, we’ve exhausted all options within our family (family members are either not O blood type or also have PKD). We’ve also looked for a match within our close circle of friends and haven’t been successful. That’s why we’re expanding our search to find an altruistic donor with an O blood type.

 FAQs

Thank you for your support!

From the bottom of our hearts, we cannot thank you enough for taking the time to read, share, and consider this for our Dad. He is not only the best Dad, but an incredible husband, Granddad, and friend.

He’s our biggest supporter, and to those who know him, he is the most generous, caring, and loving person you will meet. He has always inspired us to live our lives to the fullest, and although PKD has kept him from many activities he enjoys in recent years, we have a lot of faith that with a new kidney he will be back to living life at full capacity again.

With Love,

Robbie & Joanna

How to be Dave’s donor

If you’d like to be a donor, please click to fill out the UHN application form or email livingdonorkidney@uhn.ca with any questions.

If you’d like to get in touch with his family, you can also fill out our contact form. We're more than happy to discuss!