Navjot Sohi was nine years old when she had just moved to Brampton. It wasn’t long until she became ill and got an infection in her one and only kidney, which required surgery.
While students went to class excited to see their teacher, her fourth grade teacher was paying her visits to the hospital.
And when she did eventually go back to school, they thought it would be best to keep her indoors for lunch.
“I spent every single lunch and recess in the office that year and due to that I had no friends. This is where I first realized I was different from other kids my age,” she told Now Toronto.
Sohi, now 27, quickly learned how to be cautious around others.
She explains that if someone in her family had the flu, she had to be isolated from them or she would end up sick for a month and in the hospital.
“Everyone around me has always been overly cautious of me which has led me to be overly cautious of everything I do as well. I have to be very cautious of the stress I’m putting on my body, what I’m eating and my day-to-day activities. I have to make sure that I’m not overexerting my body,” she said.
And as far as illnesses go, it tends to get worse before it can get better, at least that is the case for Sohi who is now in stage five of her chronic kidney disease and is at the end of her road to recovery unless she gets the help she needs.
She says she started 2023 with 12 per cent of her kidney functioning, and this year she started off at only eight per cent.
“I am starting to feel some symptoms more intensively. My taste buds are changing, my hands are swelling up, I experience a lot of itching and experience intense fatigue and body aches. This has always shaped my life, and it’s going to continue to shape my life,” she said.
Despite the control her illness has had on her, she isn’t ready to give up.
Today, she spends a lot of time advocating for her ailment through social media and is actively looking for a living kidney donor over the age of 18.
Sohi even has a checklist and is looking for someone with a certain blood type. She has also expanded her search across the country.
“It hasn’t been easy but the search did go above my expectations. I initially started looking for a living kidney donor in December 2022 on Instagram and was surprised at how the community came together to support me. I didn’t even expect one person to fill out the health history questionnaire and send it to UHN but I had three people who stepped forward,” she said.
After two years of waiting, they were not able to donate, prompting Sohi to return to social media and start her search all over again.
“The support has been so generous and I am very grateful. I am feeling hopeful that I will find a match,” she said.
“I think just believing that things will work out has kept me grounded during this time and keeping a positive mindset. I try to ensure that my circumstances don’t occupy my mind completely.”
When not focused on her illness, Sohi says she finds great comfort in spending time with her family and friends as well as in therapy and reading books.
