Mom hopes to beat the odds again
The Organ Donor Foundation declared August organdonation awareness month. CHARLENE SOMDUTH shares the stories of a transplant recipient and a mother who is on the organ-donation waiting list.
TIRSHA Naidoo is living each day by the grace of God, and for her son, but she has no guarantee she will see him matriculate.
Naidoo, 38, of Randburg, was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy, or Berger’s disease, in 2005 when she was 26.
It is a kidney disease that occurs when an antibody called immunoglobulin A (IgA) lodges in the kidneys, resulting in local inflammation that, over time, may hamper the kidneys’ ability to filter waste from the blood.
Naidoo, formerly from Cliffdale, KwaZulu-Natal, has maintained an active, healthy lifestyle, and now desperately needs a kidney transplant.
“I remember being very ill. I was either nauseous or vomiting and had diarrhoea. I thought I was coming down with the flu and went to my GP for treatment, but nothing seemed to help stop the symptoms,” said Naidoo, an insurance broker, who added that soon after the consultation, her health took a turn for the worse.
“The symptoms got worse and I started passing blood in my urine. I was unable to walk and could not get out of bed. When I went back to the GP, he referred me to a nephrologist.”
A nephrologist is a physician who studies and deals with nephrology, which is the adult and paediatric study of the kidneys and its diseases.
Naidoo consulted with the specialist in January 2005 and after undergoing tests, she was diagnosed with Berger’s disease. Another blow soon followed. She was told her kidneys were functioning at less than 20% and she needed an urgent transplant.
“I was in shock. I could not understand how I contracted the disease because no one in my family had it and I lived a rather healthy life.”
Despite the bad news, there was hope.
Her specialist informed her that a relative could donate a kidney if the person was found to be a match.
“I have four sisters and all four were tested. One of them was a match.”
Feeling a huge sense of relief, the siblings underwent surgery a month later (February 2005) and it was successful.
“Eight months later, I was back at work and at gym living life to the fullest.”
Four years later, and despite warnings from doctors that a pregnancy would be high risk, Naidoo decided to have a baby.
They had a boy, whom they named Cale. Everything was falling into place, but two years after Cale’s birth, in 2011, Naidoo got sick again.
“My body began rejecting the kidney and my specialist put me on treatment to stabilise my condition. But by 2015, my kidney became even weaker and is currently functioning at only 4%.”
Naidoo undergoes dialysis three times a week, for four hours a day, at the Baobab Dialysis Centre.
“This time, my doctors have told me that I stand a better chance of the disease not returning if my donor is not related to me.” She is on the organ-donor register. “Although I have been faced with so many challenges, I believe I will pull through. I beat the odds and gave birth to my son, who is now 8, and I know God will see me through this.”