About 5,000 South African adults and children are awaiting life-saving organ and cornea transplants, according to the Organ Donor Foundation.
The foundation said though almost 400,000 organ donors are registered in SA, circumstances would need to be optimal at the time of their death for them to actually qualify as a suitable organ donor.
The 400,000 are people who have committed their intent to donate organs and/or tissue but the families of the potential donors still need to provide consent at the time of death as they have the final say, the foundation said.
The foundation’s national liaison officer, Julie Purkis, said the next-of-kin's failing to give consent due to lack of knowledge or supporting their loved one’s decision to donate for various reasons were some of the main challenges.
While ODF is not a medical organisation and doesn’t play any role in the allocation or procurement of organs, it continuously raises awareness about the need and benefits of organ and tissue donation and transplantation.
“Gauteng and Western Cape are the provinces with the most registered donors and KwaZulu-Natal is third. The other provinces account for only about 15%-20% of registrations,” Purkis said.
She said organ donations had been severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of transplants performed decreased and many live-related donations were paused.
The foundation has been calling South Africans to register as organ and tissue donors so that at the time of death, their organs and tissue can be donated if their family agree.
“With regards to being a live donor, one has to be in optimal health and ideal body weight. You would also need to be willing to undergo assessments by medical professionals, social workers and psychologists to ensure that you understand the risks and are wanting to donate for the right reasons,” said Purkis.
She said being a live donor is truly giving the gift of life as you cannot be paid as trading in organs is against the law.
Some of the people who are in need of organs and are part of the foundation shared their stories with TimesLIVE.
Bradley McNeil, 43, from Ballito in KwaZulu-Natal, who was diagnosed with sclerosing cholangitis (a rare disease which attacks bile ducts) in 2017, has been struggling to receive a liver.
With a life expectancy of five years, his only hope is a liver transplant which also needs to be genetically matched. McNeil, who has been an organ donor since 1998, became an active ambassador of the foundation in the past two years.
To create awareness, he ran the Two Oceans half marathon this year in 1hr:33min.
“Though the only thing that can save me is a liver transplant, I will live until the one I have can’t give any more and in that time, I may save more people by waiting and allowing others to go before me while I maintain an active and healthy lifestyle,” he said.
He said the autoimmune condition had just become life-threatening. “In most cases, a survival period is five years, so 2022 is my death year,” he said.
Alicia Read, a mother from Randburg, has also become part of the organisation. She began running to create organ donor awareness to support her husband Guy who is awaiting a kidney transplant.
Guy, who was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy in 2010, initially received a kidney but at the time he couldn’t afford the operation. With help from family, friends and strangers, the funds were raised and he was assisted.
On paper this is the year I could die: KZN man is among 5,000 awaiting life-saving organ donation
Foundation encourages South Africans to become organ donors
Image: Supplied
About 5,000 South African adults and children are awaiting life-saving organ and cornea transplants, according to the Organ Donor Foundation.
The foundation said though almost 400,000 organ donors are registered in SA, circumstances would need to be optimal at the time of their death for them to actually qualify as a suitable organ donor.
The 400,000 are people who have committed their intent to donate organs and/or tissue but the families of the potential donors still need to provide consent at the time of death as they have the final say, the foundation said.
The foundation’s national liaison officer, Julie Purkis, said the next-of-kin's failing to give consent due to lack of knowledge or supporting their loved one’s decision to donate for various reasons were some of the main challenges.
While ODF is not a medical organisation and doesn’t play any role in the allocation or procurement of organs, it continuously raises awareness about the need and benefits of organ and tissue donation and transplantation.
“Gauteng and Western Cape are the provinces with the most registered donors and KwaZulu-Natal is third. The other provinces account for only about 15%-20% of registrations,” Purkis said.
She said organ donations had been severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of transplants performed decreased and many live-related donations were paused.
The foundation has been calling South Africans to register as organ and tissue donors so that at the time of death, their organs and tissue can be donated if their family agree.
“With regards to being a live donor, one has to be in optimal health and ideal body weight. You would also need to be willing to undergo assessments by medical professionals, social workers and psychologists to ensure that you understand the risks and are wanting to donate for the right reasons,” said Purkis.
She said being a live donor is truly giving the gift of life as you cannot be paid as trading in organs is against the law.
Some of the people who are in need of organs and are part of the foundation shared their stories with TimesLIVE.
Bradley McNeil, 43, from Ballito in KwaZulu-Natal, who was diagnosed with sclerosing cholangitis (a rare disease which attacks bile ducts) in 2017, has been struggling to receive a liver.
With a life expectancy of five years, his only hope is a liver transplant which also needs to be genetically matched. McNeil, who has been an organ donor since 1998, became an active ambassador of the foundation in the past two years.
To create awareness, he ran the Two Oceans half marathon this year in 1hr:33min.
“Though the only thing that can save me is a liver transplant, I will live until the one I have can’t give any more and in that time, I may save more people by waiting and allowing others to go before me while I maintain an active and healthy lifestyle,” he said.
He said the autoimmune condition had just become life-threatening. “In most cases, a survival period is five years, so 2022 is my death year,” he said.
Alicia Read, a mother from Randburg, has also become part of the organisation. She began running to create organ donor awareness to support her husband Guy who is awaiting a kidney transplant.
Guy, who was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy in 2010, initially received a kidney but at the time he couldn’t afford the operation. With help from family, friends and strangers, the funds were raised and he was assisted.
Image: Supplied
Just before the outbreak of the pandemic in January 2020, he started experiencing difficulties and was put on dialysis.
He said kidney failure was something he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy.
“This is the second time I’m going through this, first in 2010 when my kidney condition escalated to a point where my kidneys stopped working. Now in a twist of fate, I find myself in a situation where I can afford it but don’t have a donor,” he said.
Image: Supplied
Jamie Waller, 25, is now living with a left ventricle assisted device (LVAD) while waiting for a heart transplant. She said the LVAD has really changed her life.
“I was dying in March 2021 but the LVAD has brought me back to normal life (almost). An LVAD is a pump that keeps you circulating your blood through your heart using batteries that are outside the body. So load-shedding is an issue,” she said.
Originally from KwaZulu-Natal, Waller moved to Cape Town five years ago. She has since left her job as she could not cope.
“Now I lecture and I am a freelance designer. The transplant list isn’t first come, first served — it works according to blood type, tissue type, age, the size of the organ and how sick the person is. So with me being more normal — that gives me more time to wait for a more perfect heart,” she said.
Purkis said the kidney was the organ most in demand.
TimesLIVE
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