Drs Christensen and Reeve

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 66, No. 6, July August 2024, Page 194 Letters
By: Phyllis Reeve

Your list of recently deceased physicians in the May 2024 issue [BCMJ 2024;66:135-136] includes Dr Ralph Marenus Christensen. I did not know Dr Christensen personally, but he was part of an event that looms large in my memory. According to the obituary in the Vancouver Sun, “[a] highlight of his career was leading the surgical team to complete the first kidney transplant in Western Canada in 1968.”

My late husband, Dr C.E. (Ted) Reeve, was on that same team, and it was indeed a highlight for all concerned. The people of Vernon were especially proud because Ralph was born and raised there, and Ted was the son of the rector of All Saints Anglican Church in Vernon. A front-page headline in the Vernon News, 31 October 1968, read: “First kidney transplant. Two aid in operation.” There were at least a dozen doctors on the team, but these two were the local heroes.
—Phyllis Reeve
Gabriola Island

This letter was submitted in response to “Recently deceased physicians.”

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Phyllis Reeve. Drs Christensen and Reeve. BCMJ, Vol. 66, No. 6, July, August, 2024, Page(s) 194 - Letters.


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Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

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