Vancouver shoe designer John Fluevog is known worldwide for its unique and colorful shoes.
Now he has created another shoe, a very personal tribute to an old friend that will forever be part of his history.
In 2025, Fluevo’s decades-long battle with polycystic kidney disease came to a head, and he learned he would need either dialysis or a transplant.
“My brain went, ‘Oh, I had no idea. Do you buy these things? Where do you get them?'” Fluevog said with a laugh.
He said he needed a kidney donor and an old and dear friend stepped up.
“The moment I knew I could do this is when I saw my blood match and I knew I had to do this,” Patty Carmichael said.
“There was a stirring inside me and I knew this was no accident and I knew I had to do it.”
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Fluevog said his wife broke down in tears when Carmichael revealed her decision, and he said he couldn’t believe it.
There are about 4,000 Canadians on the organ transplant list and more than 2,900 are waiting for a kidney.
“Kidney disease has really flown under the radar,” said Kidney Foundation Board Director Megan Owen-Evans.
“It is not widely recognized as the killer of Canadians. One in 10 Canadians is affected by kidney disease and over 50,000 Canadians live with kidney failure.”
Fluevo’s doctor, John Gill, says that a transplant has far better outcomes than dialysis for the patient and for the cost of the health care system.
“When someone donates a kidney, they are not only giving life to someone and transforming that person’s life, but they are also contributing a great benefit to society,” Gill said.
Fluevog said he and Carmichael recovered quickly.
Carmichael went on a week-long hike a few months after the surgery, and Fluevog went back to work doing what he does best.
He has now designed the kidney shoe and named it Patty.
Carmichael said she was shocked by the gesture.
Partial proceeds from the sale will go to the Kidney Foundation.
Fluevog also hopes his story will encourage potential donors to step forward and make a gift that will change a life.
“What a wonderful piece of humanity that people can do this,” he said.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
