“I find it fascinating to see two people living from what one has”: an organ donation from a Montpellier woman that turns into a nightmare

Jane Damien, 28, gave her kidney to a friend. A donation that led her to a real imbroglio with her employer. Story.

She doesn't want to be thanked. “It's a gift, period. That's where it ends. And I find it fascinating to see two people live from what one has“, Jane Damien comments in one go from the height of her 28 years. Her donation? That of one of her kidneys to Camille, a dear friend of hers, suffering from kidney disease since birth.

So, between having to see Camille slowly waste away and donating an organ to save her, Jane didn't hesitate for long. Especially since I assume that the life is written. So, if it ends on a good thing, it's worth it. And I would like that tomorrow, if my nephew or niece need a kidney, someone will come forward. So the only question I asked myself was that of compatibility“.

Was it the fact of having brushed with death while working in his father's funeral home that gave him this philosophy of life? Difficult to determine. Her sister, Floriane, says of her that she is one of those people for whom helping is a priority, for whom the common good and justice are central elements that characterize each of her decisions.”. The only certainty is that her strong character, her keen sense of others and her principles led her to make this gift without a moment's hesitation.

A gift that turns into an administrative nightmare

Jane Damien has always been a go-getter. After a BTS in management and a professional degree in cultural business management, she set up a pastry and performance hall, “L’Oxymore", in Paris. Covid puts an end to her adventure. She decides to come and settle in Montpellier, where her father lives. After several food jobs, and while waiting to be able to re-establish her business in the cultural sector, she follows a work-study training as a nursing assistant which led her to join, in August 2023, the Little Sisters of the Poor, in Montpellier.

At the same time, the number of potential kidney donors for her friend is dwindling, so she decides to offer hers. After the usual checks, the Necker Hospital in Paris gives the green light for the organ to be removed and transplanted. The operation takes place in December 2023. If all goes well, the convalescence will become unexpectedly complicated.

A delay in sending salary certificates from the religious congregation and the costs incurred due to not receiving her money on time will turn this generous act into an administrative nightmare and plunge her into precariousness. A standoff then begins between the religious congregation and the apprentice nursing assistant. The hospital social worker steps in to speed things up, but to no avail.

The tone rises and a standoff begins. "If they had been sorry for all the difficulties I went through because of them, I would have been accommodating. But that is not the case. What I am asking for today is the reimbursement of the amount I had to spend because of their delay", she explains. In the absence of an acceptable response from them, she decided to take action against them at the Industrial Tribunal.

And because you can always take something positive from a bad experience, she has just written a play, “Bienveillance mon cul: de la formation d'aide-soignante aux pompes funèbres”, which will soon be performed in Paris, then in Montpellier, once she has found a venue to perform in.

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