MISSION (NEWS 1130) — After years of waiting, a Mission man says he’s getting a kidney donation from pretty much a complete stranger: his realtor.

Geoff Dunsire is just 31 years old, but he’s already spent much of his life in hospital rooms. He ended up in BC Children’s Hospital with liver failure at 13 and needing a liver transplant. At times it became so bad he had to spend months in hospital, even going into a coma and on life support for a time.

Always nice to cover the happy stories! A Mission man who has been looking for a kidney donor for years says his prayers have been answered, after his relator was approved for a transplant. Details @NEWS1130 — Jonathan Szekeres (@jonszekeres) April 25, 2019

He recovered, but in 2013 he found out he needed a transplant for his kidneys, too.

“My journey’s been pretty crappy. I’ve been on dialysis for five-and-a-half years,” he says. “Dialysis suck.”

Just a short story. Sort of about real estate but mostly about my wife Debi who is also a Realtor. Last June we we referred to clients to sell their home and buy another. They have an adult son who is 31 who had a very bad reaction to a hepatitis shot in high school. He got ill and it attracted his liver and kidneys an both failed when he was about 25. He almost died but they got him a liver transplant as they could manage his kidney failure with dialysis. During this time he was paralyzed and they told him he would never walk again. He had fought back and now is walking fine and doing quite well. He has been going for dialysis 3 times a week for the last 6 years. He needs a live donor. Debi said this young man is a fighter and has gone though too much. She got tested, went through a battery of tests, was a match and last week she was approved to donate. Everything working out it should be late July or August when Geoff gets to be off dialysis for the first time in six years. Our whole family is so proud of her. Just wanted to share. Below is a video of her telling Geoff the news. Posted by The Pearce Team – Realtors on Monday, April 22, 2019

But then someone, a virtual stranger, answered his prayers. Now Geoff says he’s finally hoping his life will get back to normal thanks to Debi Pearce, his realtor.

“There’s no way to thank her, honestly,” he says. “It’s called the gift of life. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

His mom Tracey says her son’s health problems have been exhausting.

“He can’t work, you just can’t live a normal life,” she says.

Pearce — someone the pair just met in the summer — decided she had to do something to help Geoff.

“She got her levels where they needed to be, and her blood sugar, and all these things, and we got a call from her saying she’d been approved,” she says.

Geoff will be travelling to Vancouver General Hospital in the coming weeks to meet with doctors and plan for a transplant.