Over 30 operations but Melody needs more
Melody Johnston has spent her life on the operating table.
The 25-year-old Hamilton woman stopped counting after her 30th operation.
But there’s two more she needs to have to save her life.
Johnson, who is in renal failure, requires weight loss surgery before she can get a lifesaving kidney transplant from her mum.
She needs to lose 10 to 15kgs to meet the weight criteria of being under 110kgs before that can happen though, but her illness prevents her from exercising.
Melody first became ill at 13 when she was diagnosed with a back condition and renal failure.
‘‘Then when I was 15, I got an infection and I had to have penicillin and I found out I was allergic to penicillin which triggered my kidneys from being okay to being not okay.’’
She’s been on dialysis ever since, going three times a week for between four and half to five years a time.
But now her arms don’t have any more viable places to insert the fistulas which deliver her dialysis treatment. There is currently one in her right chest that is doing the job at the moment.
There have been surgeries after surgeries, a shunt put in her head, and she’s died twice on the table.
Her body carries the scars of all the procedures.
‘‘She still smiles, she’s beautiful, and she’s trying to get on with life,’’ Cherry Berry, Melody’s mum, said.
‘‘[But] she’s running out of places to put her lifeline in. If you run out of lifeline you aren’t going to be here.’’
Melody was the correct weight for surgery three years ago, but then she injured herself when going up a step which dislocated both her knees.
‘‘I have also had three and three quarters of my four parathyroid glands removed. They help with calcium levels in your bones,’’ Melody said.
‘‘I’ve been getting worse with my knees, I am struggling to walk now. I have started to get calcium on my tendons which comes from having injuries.’’
Just walking from her outside room into the main house can have her in tears some days.
It’s got to the point that Melody is wondering if she should write a will. And admits to previously having self harm thoughts.
The transplant could offer Melody a normal life, something she hasn’t had for the past 12 years.
She’s interested in midwifery or animal care, but said she’d have to see how her body recovers.
‘‘My mind will change because I am very forgetful, and I am not very good at learning things because I can’t remember.
‘‘But once I get my transplant my mind is going to be more clear and I might be able to get back to my old self because I used to be quite clever.’’
The family have had to start a Givealittle page due to the cost of the surgery. If they go private they’re looking at $25,000 while they are scheduled to talk to the Waikato DHB about weight loss surgery.
Melody is unable to work, and her mother Berry was made redundant due to the effects of Covid-19. Her father is also on dialysis as the condition is hereditary.