New organs for healthy life
TWO years ago, Tamzin-Leigh Bailey, 24, led a normal “healthy” life and was actively involved in singing and dancing. However, she suddenly became so ill she went into a vegetative state.
“My health deteriorated so fast I suddenly couldn’t do anything on my own. I couldn’t get up and walk and couldn’t speak, I couldn’t do anything.”
After she was taken to Groote Schuur, doctors found both her kidneys had shut down, and she needed to be dialysed immediately or, at best, get a kidney transplant.
Thanks to the kidney transplant she had earlier this year, not only has Bailey regained her life, but she is engaged to be married to another kidney transplant recipient, Kobus Weideman, who had his transplant as a teenager at Red Cross Children’s Hospital 12 years ago.
After receiving a donated kidney from a relative, Bailey said she looked at life differently. “I’m more appreciative of life in general. I’m eight months post-dialysis now, and life feels great.”
August is national Organ Donor Awareness Month.
Heart failure for Eric Leeu, 27, saw him leaving his home province of KwaZulu-Natal to settle in Cape Town. After being transferred to the city by Albert Luthuli Hospi- tal in Durban, the father of one would spend another 10 months at Groote Schuur Hospital waiting for a heart.
“It was the longest wait for me because I was so ill with my body retaining water, but at the end it was all worth the wait.
“I’m well enough to take care of my son who was actually born the day I was admitted to hospital in KZN. I’m just full of gratitude,” he said.
South Africa is a world leader in the field of organ transplantation. But, while the number of patients waiting for transplants continues to increase, the serious shortage of potential donors remains a great concern.
The life of Jasper Eales of Llandudno was saved by organ donation. Last year the 29-year-old entrepreneur had a successful liver transplant at UCT Academic Hospital following years of living with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) – a chronic liver disease that slowly damages the bile ducts in the liver.
“I remember the day I got a call that there was a donor liver for me. I had to leave everything immediately, including my business (furniture design business) which I had to hand over to my father to run,” he said. Fifteen months later, Eales has his groove back.
“In November I will be getting married, thanks to the liver transplant.”