Dr. Norman Rosenblum on National Kidney Month

CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (CIHR-INMD) works with partners, networks, initiatives and CIHR-funded researchers working in this field to help promote awareness of kidney research and kidney disease. To bring awareness to transplantations and this important research, CIHR interviewed Dr. Norman Rosenblum, Scientific Director, CIHR-INMD and Dr. Marie-Josée Hébert, University of Montreal who also co-leds the Canadian National Transplant Research Program. We also republished an interview our Media Specialist, David Coulombe had with a transplant patient, Ms. Valérie Clairoux, and transplant donor, Ms. Anick Charrette on MAtv.

March is National Kidney Month, so it is a great time to reflect on Canadian kidney research, and on the partnerships, networks, and initiatives developed to improve kidney health among Canadians. This year National Kidney Day will take place on March 8th, the same day as International Women’s Day, and this year’s Kidney Month theme is: “Kidneys and Women’s Health: Include, Value, Empower”. For more information, please go to: CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes.

CIHR and researchers working together to ensure kidney transplant patients led a normal life

  • Transcript

    Dr. Norman Rosenblum, Scientific Director, CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes

    Norm Rosenblum: Hi my name is Norm Rosenblum. I’m the Scientific Director of the Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). What’s surprising to some people in Canada is that almost 1 in 10 Canadians is affected by kidney disease.

    1 in 10 Canadians is affected by kidney disease

    Kidney transplants are one of the solutions available

    Norm Rosenblum: For those individuals who transition to full kidney failure requiring dialysis support, kidney donation is such an important part of their management, and it’s really a life changing treatment.

    "Making a gift through organ donation is terribly important."

    Norm Rosenblum: The transplant, when you compare the survivability of a donated kidney three to four decades ago to now, is remarkably better.

    The success rate today for a kidney transplant from a live donor is 90-95%

    Two best friends embarked on a life-saving journey. When one offered her kidney to her sick friend.

    Her diagnosis

    Valérie Clairoux: Your immune system attacks your kidneys, like with any autoimmune disease, and eventually one of them will win. In my case, my immune system completely destroyed my kidneys.

    Her gift

    Anick Charrette: I knew she was on dialysis, but then I saw her hooked up to all that equipment like it was nothing! She had been on it for a couple of months, and it had become a part of her life. She’d hook it up near her stomach, with the bag of liquid that must get hot, and she would have to lug it onto the toilet… I was shocked to see how intense it was.

    Operation day

    Anick Charrette: We were surrounded by great people, I felt really supported. When I went back to see the surgeon afterward, she gave me a hug because she was so happy to see I was doing well.

    David Coulombe: Were you together in the same operating room?

    Valérie Clairoux: No, but…

    Anick Charrette: Almost.

    Valérie Clairoux: It was quite odd. We saw each other briefly the morning of the operation. She left for her surgery, and I was waiting. I wasn’t even thinking about my operation. I was hoping that she would be okay.

    Valérie Clairoux: They came to get me, so I knew that Anick’s kidney would be taken out in the next 15 minutes. They removed it from Anick and immediately transplanted it so that it didn’t have time to die.

    When we were going down the hallway to the operating room, they stopped me. They never do that. But something was going on that morning, in the operating room. I always say that we had angels watching over us. Our parents were there. Her father passed away two months before the operation, and both of my parents have passed as well. I felt that they were there. Something was happening. They said to me, “Your best friend is in that room, now look at the screen—that’s her kidney, or rather, your kidney that you see.”

    That really touched me. Something special had happened, and honestly, I felt good. I told myself that it was going to be okay. I wasn’t stressed any more. They took me into the op room. I don’t remember anything, but I woke up with a new kidney.

    David Coulombe: With a kidney from your best friend.

    Anick Charrette: The Cadillac of kidneys!

    Road to recovery

    David Coulombe: How are you now?

    Valérie Clairoux: I’m doing very well. It’s been a little over three months since Anick gave me her kidney. Honestly, I feel a hundred times better than before. I have an appetite again, I sleep at night, which was rare with the peritoneal dialysis. So my quality of life is back to normal. 

    David Coulombe: That’s great. Anick?

    Anick Charrette: It’s such a wonderful gift to hear that. Mission accomplished. I’m doing well too.

    What inspires CIHR-funded researchers

    Dr. Marie-Josée Hébert, Vice-Rector of Research, Discovery, Creation and Innovation, Université de Montréal

    Marie-Josée Hébert: This story is about me going to the Kidney Walk. And so, I was going there with my son, and my son was probably ten at the time, eight or ten. And I told him: you are going to come with me, you are going to walk to prevent and cure kidney disease, and it’s important to mommy, because, you know, mommy is working in kidney disease. And he said: yeah okay, that’s going to be fun.

    And so we got there, and then I noticed that he was kind of, I was introducing him to some of my patients, and he was looking at various patients, and he was actually looking… It was clear that, you know, there was something that was a little bothering him. And then he told me: Mom your patients, they don’t look sick. And I told him: You know what, Benoit? That’s my job. My job is exactly that. That they don’t look sick. That they have a normal life.

    This is what it’s all about. It’s about our patients, kidney patients, living a normal life.

    Acknowledgements: We wish to thank Dr. Norman Rosenblum, Ms. Anick Charrette, Ms. Valérie Clairoux and Dr. Marie-Josée Hébert for their participation in this video.

    Credits: MAtv Outaouais and the Université de Montréal for their video footage.

CIHR Scientific Director highlights kidney disease research and contributions from the community

  • Transcript

    Dr. Norman Rosenblum, Scientific Director, CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes

    Norm Rosenblum: So let’s talk for a moment about the contributions of Canadians to kidney research. And I think we can be very proud actually, for a small country numerically, only 35 million people, not a huge research community in the kidney sector, but some very notable contributions in a number of areas, and ongoing contributions with respect to kidney disease.

    Canada has made notable contributions to kidney research

    Norm Rosenblum: Just to cite a few, I think of, in past years, the understanding of how water and salts are transported through the kidney in order to be excreted or not excreted, and how disorders of the kidney affect that type of physiology, which is key to our wellbeing.

    As well, the numerous diseases, which are largely immune-related, but not totally, that affect what we call the filter units of the kidney, or the nephron. We have some major investigators that have helped us understand how these diseases arise, and what treatments are best used for them.

    Researchers are working to understand kidney diseases and treat them

    Norm Rosenblum: We also have some important investigations going in on in the area of diabetic kidney disease, which is very important from a numerical perspective. Diabetic kidney disease, and diabetic induced kidney failure is a huge burden for Canadians. So, some important work being done in that area.

    And finally, I might highlight how we care for patients with chronic disease, and so we have a major network in Canada which has dedicated itself in part in understanding how do we have patients with chronic disease get access to the right treatment at the right time? And how do we organize health care and improve as well quality of life for the patient? And we have some very skilled investigators across the country, who are working together to do this.

    We are also looking at how patients can get access to the right treatment at the right time

Date modified: