Organ donation saved my life

I WAS wheeled out from the ICU to the general ward the day after a successful kidney transplant operation at Hospital Kuala Lumpur. It was July 27, 1996. I was one of the pioneering cases of cadaveric transplant operations in the country.

I had been given a second chance at life!

The cadaveric kidney came from a male American expatriate, a C.H. Bender, who had passed away in this country.

In the isolation ward, I planned for the future. I wanted to pursue an MBA, and be actively involved in organ donation awareness campaigns. Out of deep gratitude, I also endeavoured to discover and get to know my benefactor’s family.

Eventually, I graduated from the Malaysian Graduate School of Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, in 1999, after two years of evening classes. I also set up my own company.

Till today, I am still active in organ donation awareness campaigns.

As for searching for my donor’s family, I drove to the National Library, and flipped through newspapers and combed through microfilms. It was to no avail.

Then in 2002, during a cheque presentation by Exxonmobil to

Green Ribbon Support Association (GRSA) at the National Heart Institute, I met some of the company’s staff. I found out that Exxonmobil was my late organ donor’s employer. Unfortunately, I could not solicit further information from them as those who had worked with him had already left the company.

GRSA is an NGO established by medical staff, the Rotary Club, the organ donor’s family and recipients, and the general public who subscribe to organ donation awareness. I was the founding Honorary Secretary since its inception in 2000 until I stepped down in 2012.

I visited an ex-colleague who was then working in an offshore oil platform of Exxonmobil, in 2006. He handed me a copy of his company’s newsletter, myxomnews, with an article, The Gift Of Life, 10 Years On. The article gave me a clue and rekindled my desire to search for my saviour’s background information. I spent many hours in front of my computer, searching, but was unsuccessful.

So I went to the Public Affairs department at Menara Exxonmobil and relayed my desire to search for the contact address of Bender’s family. They conveyed my request to their counterparts in the United States. Unfortunately, the office there was unable to assist me; they no longer had any of his records since it had been over 10 years.

My last resort was to write to the American Embassy.

But one night, my sixth sense told me I could strike the right chord by changing my strategy. On the keyboard, I punched the name of my benefactor C.H. Bender instead of CH Bender Offshore Petroleum Exploration. His name flashed across the computer!

I discovered that he had co-authored a paper – on the Applications Of Wave –withtwo other engineers. One of them was an Engineering professor with Texas A&M University. The website had his email address, so I emailed him.

Through him and the other author, a reply followed stating he had contacted Mrs Bender and given her my email address. Communication with the donor’s family was established.

I was thrilled to receive an email from Mrs Bender on May 29, 2009! In her reply, she and her family were very glad to see how healthy Azizi Mohd Husain, the other beneficiary of Carl Bender’s kidneys, and I looked. She thanked me for keeping her up to date on our progress and on all the work I had done on transplant issues. She was very happy that her husband’s kidneys were serving us so well.

We continued to exchange emails. In one email, I expressed my intention to fly over to Houston, Texas, to visit her and her family. She did not give a positive reply to my request. However, it did not deter me from my quest to move forward.

I registered with a search engine which gathers personal information from public records. And so I obtained information on Bender’s background, inclusive of cemetery and grave details. I requested for, and received, a picture of his burial ground from the administrative office of the cemetery.

Two years ago, a good friend of mine arranged for me to meet with Bender’s former neighbour and schoolmate, who coincidentally used to work as an engineer in the same company.

Through our conversations, I was given to understand that my organ donor was a fatherly figure to his staff, an unassuming person and a caring superior who mingled well with his subordinates.

Carl died of a haemorrhage. A copy of his picture was also extended to me by the former neighbour.

My 22-year search was finally over.