Actor William Stewart has appeared in such films as The Interview, 50/50 and The A-Team and several television shows, and he's now writing a movie about Willie O'Ree, the NHL's first black hockey player, and creating a new TV series called Blood Money.
"I'm actually quite busy for a guy who's pretty sick," joked the Port Moody resident and father of three.
Stewart was told three years ago that his kidneys are slowly deteriorating; these days, he has to go on dialysis every night for eight hours but counts himself as "one of the lucky ones" who gets to do it at home instead of in hospital.
One of the keys to living with kidney disease, he said, is staying positive.
"I try to maintain my happiness and try not to get down," Stewart said. "I don't like to sugarcoat things but I do have the attitude of what am I going to do, sit here and cry about it? That's just not going to happen, so how about we go with plan B and try to be as happy as I possibly can and… hopefully at some point I can get a kidney transplant."
Earlier this month, Stewart hosted the first ever BC Kidney Tranplant Consensus Summit, put on by the Kidney Foundation, that recommended B.C. adopt presumed consent legislation to increase the number of kidney transplants in the province.
The courtroom-style summit was chaired by the Hon. Wally Oppal and heard from a number of experts in support of transplantation as the best option for B.C. dialysis patients.
"Kidney disease is serious and until there is a cure, the best available therapy for a dialysis patient is a kidney transplant," said Dr. David Landsberg, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Program for BC Transplant, in a release. "Unfortunately, the demand for kidney transplants far exceeds the available supply. Right now there are 361 British Columbians on the official waitlist for a transplant and many of them will die before they get one."
Although 95% of B.C. residents say they support organ donation, only 19% are registered on the official organ donor registry.
Stewart said working in the film industry means he can draw on a unique network of colleagues for support.
For the Kidney Foundation's fundraising gala in March he asked The Interview's Seth Rogen and James Franco, as well as Cameron Crowe, with whom Stewart was working on a pilot called Roadies, to sign auction items.
"Everything happens for a reason," Stewart said. "I don't really want kidney disease but I have it, so maybe the reason is that I can help."
Knowing that he's just one of many people on a kidney transplant waiting list is also a strong motivator, particularly since many of those waiting are children.
"Realistically, the stats are that 50% of people on dialysis who don't get an organ transplant only have four years," he said. "It's scary to think about but those are the facts. I'm on year two."
Stewart hopes he can tap into people's inherent desire to do some good to get more people registering to become organ donors.
"We're put on this earth to be kind to each other, to love each other," he said. "I don't know when we went off track, but I think helping each other and saving lives, that should be number one."
• For more information visit www.kidney.ca.
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