Organ donations on the increase
For a decade, Barnaby Fredric spent much of his time waiting for ‘‘the’’ phone call.
In 2004, he was diagnosed with auto-immune liver disorder Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis. The years that followed involved him being on and off organ transplant waiting lists.
Sometimes his health improved, but a couple of years ago things went downhill again and it was clear only a transplant would save him.
The call came just as he was preparing for a flat warming in Auckland.
‘‘You just have to have your phone on all the time, because you never know when you might get the call,’’ he said.
‘‘They said, ‘Come on down to hospital immediately. We may have a liver for you’.’’
He raced to Auckland City Hospital and his parents flew up from Wellington.
‘‘It was something that I was sort of prepared for, but it did happen very quickly.’’
He received the liver, the chance for a better quality of life, and had his faith in humanity boosted, thanks to an anonymous donor.
‘‘Everything’s good now,’’ he said.
Fredric, 30, may not know his donor, but more Kiwis last year agreed to donate their organs than ever before, though rates still lag behind many countries.
‘‘I would have to say ‘thank you’ to them, and to their family, for what actually just saved my life ... Thanks so much for thinking of that and being so selfless as to help a complete stranger.’’
Organ Donation New Zealand said there were 61 deceased organ donors last year, up from 36 three years earlier.
From last year’s donors, 181 organs were transplanted.
Professor Stephen Munn, a transplant surgeon at Auckland with some 30 years’ experience including Fredric’s operation said the rise in donations was ‘‘appreciable’’.
But educating people about organ donation took ongoing effort, he said.
Barely half (54 per cent) of driver’s licence holders had chosen to be donors, Organ Donation New Zealand said last year.
Munn said the increase in donations meant some additional pressures on transplant services specialists.
But the surgeon said generally, the situation had improved in the
"Thanks so much for thinking of that and being so selfless as to help a complete stranger." Barnaby Fredric, organ donation recipient
past three or four years.
‘‘The hard work has really been done by Organ Donation New Zealand. It’s finally starting to pay dividends.’’
It was important for people to talk about organ donation with loved ones, he said.
‘‘It’s good for families to discuss it together, so that everybody knows what they want done should something untoward happen.’’
Munn said it wasn’t only donors gifting organs when they died who could make a difference.
He said the new Compensation for Live Organ Donors Bill would give live donors another incentive, by reducing the financial hit donors took from lost wages.
Minister of Health Dr Jonathan Coleman said the Government would try to increase organ donation rates further.
The strategy for this included finding ways for hospitals to better identify potential donors and discuss donation with families.
‘‘Decisions by families of deceased donors and by living donors, together with the compassion and hard work of staff means that more and more patients are receiving transplants,’’ he said.
In 2015, New Zealand per capita deceased organ donor rates were less than one-third of Spain and Croatia’s, and less than half of the United States and France’s, according to the Barcelona-based Donation and Transplantation Institute.