Strathmore local awaiting lifesaving six-organ transplant

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Maggie Kosterewa is looking to beat the odds and successfully undergo a six-organ transplant – a rare treatment which she has been on the wait list for since spring. 

She fell ill with gallstone-induced necrotizing pancreatitis five years ago. This disease caused significant damage to her pancreas, as well as several other organs. 

“Over the past five years … they have removed her pancreas, removed her spleen, removed her gallbladder, half of her stomach, and the problems have just kept continuing with blood clots, infections, and other issues,” said Jennifer Theriault, Kosterewa’s mother. “Last May … she ended up spending two months in Foothills Hospital. They tried many procedures, many things, and their last thing was they said they can’t do anything more for Maggie without a transplant.”

Theriault explained to the family’s understanding, Kosterewa is the only adult in Canada currently awaiting a six-organ transplant. 

The organs required for the transplant are the liver, small bowel, portal vein, stomach, pancreas, and lower esophagus. 

Readily, and repeatedly travelling back and forth between Strathmore and Edmonton, Kosterewa has on several occasions spent months at a time in hospital. Now, the family awaits a phone call to drop everything at a moment’s notice to go for surgery. 

“(Maggie) will go through an extremely grueling surgery that involves many surgeons and many people for over 20 hours, and when she pulls through that, then we will have at least a four-to-six-month recovery with the transplant team in Edmonton making sure all is well,” said Theriault. “It’s hard to fathom even, there have only been about 30 other people across Canada to ever have a surgery like this ever. It’s pretty remarkable.”

Upon receiving the call for surgery, the family will have eight hours to get to Edmonton. If the call is not answered within a certain amount of time, Kosterewa explained she has been told the RCMP will be dispatched to locate her. 

Kosterewa has logged over 1,000 days at Foothills Hospital throughout her treatment. Care, treatments and appointments have become the family’s lifestyle. 

Theriault has effectively retired in order to be Kosterewa’s full time care giver. Their concerns stretch from gas, parking, vehicle maintenance and food to medications which are not covered due to the family being considered as low income. 

Maggie’s younger sister, Olivia, also fell ill at a similar time. It was discovered she had a tumor along her spine which had to be removed. The sisters both underwent major surgeries around the same time.

“Gallstones are hereditary, although we don’t have anybody in our immediate line that have had gallstone issues. This was all caused because of a gallstone, and it was not caught in time. Therefore, the gallstone had caused a lot of damage already,” said Theriault. “She’s been fighting ever since to just keep going. She’s been given different, horrible numbers – 10 per cent chance of life, 30 per cent chance of life, and then in May, her life will definitely be shortened if she does not get this transplant. It’s just a hope and a prayer that that happens.”

All six organs will have to come from one eligible donor. According to Alberta Health Services, one to two per cent of people are eligible as potential organ donors at the time of their deaths. 

“It’s a huge mental toil, the thought of losing a loved one to save my loved one weighs very heavy on the heart,” said Theriault.

Theriault explained their transplant coordination team has suggested the requirement of over $50,000 for the six months following the operation, during which time, she and Maggie will be required to relocate to Edmonton. 

Benefit concerts were held in April and May respectively to support the family’s fundraising efforts. T-shirts featuring several of Maggie’s tattoos are being sold in order to supplement the campaign. 

Additionally, a Go-Fund-Me has been initiated for the family by Hailey Sutherland. As of the publication of this article, over $56,000 had been donated. 

“I haven’t fully processed everything because I’ve gone through so much in the last seven years. I try not to get my hopes up with certain things, put all my eggs in one basket,” said Kosterewa. “It’s definitely been a struggle having to change my whole life around … I used to be just a regular young adult, graduated from high school, was trying to live her twenties dancing, doing all those things, (then) just one day being super sick and not understanding why.”

For those who are interested and able to support the family, Sutherland’s Go-Fund-Me campaign remains open. Alternatively, tax receipts are offered should donations be made through knoxbassano100@gmail.com. T-shirts can be purchased via maggiestransplant@gmail.com