My boss gave me a kidney
Te Taiete Eketone used to stay alive by spending up to 20 hours a week attached to a machine.
In January 2012, a specialist told the Waikato man he was in kidney failure and needed to start dialysis.
‘‘I said, oh, no, I’m fine . . . The next word he said to me was, well, if you don’t hop on the machine then the next place you will be is down there,’’ Eketone said, pointing at the ground.
A two-year cycle of shift work, dialysis, and sleep stopped when his boss at Spring Hill Corrections Facility gave him a kidney.
‘‘I’ve got two. You can have one,’’ said Nicci Sarah, who worked with Eketone in the gatehouse, and was his senior Corrections officer.
The pair are backing Waikato District Health Board’s kaupapa of ko¯ rero about donating a kidney to a loved one or friend. Kidneys filter the blood so if they’re not working properly the body fills up with excess wastes and water.
Nationally, about 600 Kiwis are waiting for a kidney, and about 180 transplants were done in 2018. In the Midland region – which includes Waikato – more than half the people waiting for a kidney are Ma¯ ori.
The average wait time is three to four years but specialists say the sooner transplants happen the better – and donations from friends or wha¯ nau can speed them up.
Eketone says his second chance at life is an honour, and talks about his donation experience at every marae and hui he attends. Going to work feeling well is a novelty, he said, and he and his wife have since had a third child – their only son. He hopes to see change in Ma¯ ori thinking on organ donation.
‘‘Our people are of the understanding that when you die you take your parts with you to the ground,’’ he said.
‘‘If you can save a life rather than taking your parts with you to the ground, how beautiful is that?’’ Eketone’s siblings couldn’t give their kidneys but his luck – and life – changed in 2012, when Sarah found out he was dialysing.
Once he explained what that was, she offered a kidney.
Eketone tried to tell her he was okay on the waiting list, but she wasn’t taking no for an answer.
‘‘He has such a beautiful wairua (spirit) and a¯ hua (aura) about him. Why wouldn’t you want to give a kidney to someone like this?’’
The pair also discovered shared whakapapa the week of the transplant.
They both descend from great, great grandparents: Louis Hetet and Martha Rangituatahi, on their Nga¯ ti Maniapoto side.
The transplant happened in Auckland on August 27, 2014. Eketone was walking around the hospital the day after, and visited Sarah’s bedside.
Talking about kidney donation is key, Waikato renal specialist Dr Drew Henderson said.
‘‘Don’t hang back because, the longer someone is on
dialysis, the less likely they are to be well enough to get a kidney transplant,’’ Henderson said.
‘‘If you have the thought in your brain, verbalise it.’’ The person who gets the kidney tends to feel better within days, he said.
Donors can now be compensated for loss of earnings in the 12 weeks following the surgery, and could be back at a desk job after a month to six weeks.
Anyone who wants information can ring their local renal centre, and Waikato Hospital on 0800 77 22 99.
‘‘If you can save a life rather than taking your parts with you to the ground, how beautiful is that?’’
Te Taiete Eketone