A Cape Breton man who needs a kidney transplant is getting a lot of attention after he placed an online ad looking for a donor.
Ken Wilkie says a friend turned out to be a perfect match, but she could no longer donate after being diagnosed with cervical cancer.
That’s when he came up with a bold idea.
“She was upset about not being able to donate,” says Wilkie. “I jokingly said ‘don’t worry about it, I’ll throw an ad on Kijiji. I’ll find a kidney somewhere.’ They say you can find anything on Kijiji.”
His Kijiji ad requesting a kidney donor quickly became an online sensation.
With the headline “Boost your Karma,” the ad described Wilkie as a 47-year-old father of two who needs a new kidney to continue work as a corrections officer.
Wilkie has polycystic kidney disease, a genetic condition that means blood relatives can’t donate.
The ad generated about 40 replies, but Kijiji pulled it from the site on Friday, and sent Wilkie the following message:
“Dear Kijiji user, we have deleted one of your Kijiji ads for violating one or more of our site policies. Kijiji is not an appropriate locale to advertise any human body parts of byproducts.”
The program that manages organ transplants across Atlantic Canada says looking for matches online isn’t a good idea.
Transplants done locally don’t allow anonymous donations to be directed to a specific person. Rather, the match goes to where it is needed most.
“It’s not a situation we’ve encountered before, but we know when a person needs an organ, what an impact it has on a person’s quality of life,” says John Gillis, a spokesperson at Capital Health. “So, it’s no surprise a person would cast as wide a net as they could.”
Wilkie is back to square one, but says he isn’t giving up. He says, if his ad inspires more people to donate, his efforts are still worthwhile.
“I’m very hopeful and I think this is going to raise a lot of awareness around kidney donation and all organ donation.”
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald
