Wave: March / April 2010 - Winnipeg in motion

When Jeff Skin
kidney transpla
his brother David
Jeff
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By Dolores Haggarty
The acting students are rolling through their lines when teacher
Jeff Skinner stops them cold.
“I can see we’re a little rusty,” barks Jeff, a cherubic man in his
mid-50s. “Your characters aren’t believable. Come on, let’s get
body, thoughts and words all together.”
The students give it another go, hoping to pass muster and
coax a compliment from the taskmaster at the head of the class.
It won’t be an easy thing to do. Even Jeff acknowledges he is
feeling more obnoxious than usual as he promises to make the
lives of his would-be actors “a living hell!”
But the students don’t mind. They’re just happy to see him.
After all, it was only a few months ago that they learned their
beloved mentor might not be standing before them on this January
evening. In fact, there was a good chance he might not be
standing anywhere.
That’s because last fall Jeff was suffering from chronic kidney
disease, a condition that left him in need of daily dialysis treatment
simply to stay alive. The prognosis was not good – without
a kidney transplant, most people with chronic kidney disease
eventually die from complications such as cardiovascular disease.
14 WAVE
Fortunately, Jeff was able to get a transplant, thanks to his
brother, David Skinner, who became a living kidney donor. Now,
in early January, just six weeks after the transplant operation, Jeff
is up and around, teaching acting classes and tending to business
at Two Lagoons, a film production company he founded with
Kent Ulrich in 2008.
It’s a dramatic turnaround for Jeff, and one that is not lost on
his students.
“He used to have yellow pasty cheeks,” says one during a
break in the class. “Tonight he has rosy little cheeks and bright
eyes,” she adds.
“His voice is strong, no coughing,” offers another.
“Before, we watched him deteriorate before our eyes – as
though someone pulled a plug. He was fuzzy-brained and
couldn’t concentrate. Now he looks and acts 15 years younger.”
Yes, to paraphrase a famous line from an old movie, Jeff Skinner
is back, and he has a story to tell. It’s a tale of how one man
stepped out from the shadows of a potentially fatal disease to
find comfort in friends, family and work. It’s also a story of how