SA Recreation Coordinator, Neil Cumberbatch shared the challenges and personal victories of going through the process of kidney donation

LARA TAI
REPORTER

The same man who brings students week of welcome, boat cruises and pub nights, has something new to offer – a kidney for his brother. Neil graduated from the Business Administration Marketing Program in 2004. “What I remember the most from being a GBC student was the connections and friendships I made outside of the classroom.” This led him to be the SA Recreation and Events Coordinator and now him and his team is responsible for most of the social programming for the Student Association. Some of those events are: GBC Fest, GBC Got Talent, paint night, paintball outings and video gaming days.

Neil and his family’s life changed in 2011 when he found out about his eldest brother Theron, having stage 5 of chronic kidney failure. “My brother went to see a specialist and was informed that he is suffering from Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and that his kidneys are functioning below 15%.” Both Neil and his middle brother Kevin got tested but only Neil’s blood type was a match. “After the blood test, you continue doing a various testing to see if you are in good health to be a potential donor” said Neil. “I was doing the testing and at the time I honestly wasn’t ready.” In the year prior, Neil had purchased a townhouse in Mississauga and when the news about Theron came to light he was about a month away from moving out of my parent’s home in Jane & Finch. “I was scared. I wanted to help my brother but was thinking about a lot of things at the time and didn’t feel like I was ready.” A year later, a family friend, a George Brown College alumni who also played for the GBC female Huskies basketball team stepped forward and donated one of her kidneys. Unfortunately the transplant wasn’t successful and Theron had to continue doing dialysis. “He does dialysis every 48 hours. At first it was in the hospital. Later on he was able to get a home machine. Each time he does dialysis it takes between 6 – 8 hours”.

As time went on, Neil always knew that donating his kidney was something he wanted to do but just wasn’t ready. “Sports have always been something big in our family, particularly basketball. Through basketball it kept me around my brother every week as I was his assistant coach when he was volunteering at 2 youth basketball organizations. I always wanted us to run our own youth basketball non- profit and we later started Legacy Hoops Youth Academy.” This was important for Neil’s process with getting comfortable with donating one of his kidneys. “Being around Theron every week and seeing him deal with his health and pushing through was very inspiring” Neil decided to step forward in 2019. “Theron and I were on a break from Legacy Hoops because of the birth of my second child in 2017 and was starting it back up, this time in Mississauga to make it easier for me to commute to the gym. The April camp was a week away and he had a health scare.” The only cure for kidney failure is a transplant but with the transplant there is no guarantee that it works. I said to myself I’d rather donate knowing I did something. If something happens to him then I got to live with the fact that I didn’t try.” It’s huge, not living with regret. That would have been rough on me know that I could have helped my brother through donating a kidney. I would have completed all of my testing. Through this process I’ve learned so much and hopefully in the near future I will be able to share some good news”.

What are Neil’s hopes and dreams for his brother and the future?
“First would be a successful transplant. second would be to continue to build and grow Legacy Hoops Youth Academy so that we can continue to have a positive effect on youth through the game of basketball. Third would be to raise enough money each year to send a child who is living with organ failure to Camp Kivita so that they can experience an overnight summer camp”.

What a bond of brotherhood and sports. Neil will donate kidney at end of this winter semester.

For More Info about Student Association of George Brown College Events https://www.studentassociation.ca/events/