The two Abbotsford Police officers who went through kidney transplant surgery on Jan. 14 are recovering well.
Const. Ian MacDonald said Insp. Kevin Wright was released from hospital a few days after the surgery. Det. Roy McBeth, now with a new kidney, has also since returned home.
“They’re both very upbeat. The surgery went really well, and they’re both super-optimistic,” MacDonald said.
In an interview on CBC Radio the day after the surgery, McBeth said he was feeling remarkably better and that the symptoms he had been experiencing – including overwhelming fatigue, headaches and nausea – were gone.
Wright, who donated a kidney to his colleague, said he immediately noticed a difference in McBeth’s appearance.
The surgery took place at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.
McBeth, almost 45, has a genetic condition called polycystic kidney disease which progressed to the point where his kidneys were functioning at only about nine per cent of normal capacity.
He was facing either dialysis or a transplant.
A search for a live kidney donor resulted in several friends and co-workers being tested, and Wright, 51, turned out to be the best match.
The recovery period for both is expected to be six to eight weeks.