Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Woman gets new kidney on her birthday
LISA du Plessis could not have received a better birthday gift.
She received a donor kidney from her sister-in-law, Sharon Lloyd.
Du Plessis spent her 42nd birthday at the Netcare Christiaan Barnard Hospital yesterday, after undergoing her transplant on Thursday.
Du Plessis was diagnosed with renal failure as a result of high blood pressure in 2006.
She underwent renal dialysis until last November, when doctors advised her to begin the transplant process.
“I feel grateful and blessed to have Sharon,” Du Plessis said yesterday. “As soon as she found out I needed a kidney she immediately offered to donate hers if it was a match.”
The necessary tests were done, and both were a bit shocked to discover they were in fact a match.
“We are two completely different individuals who aren’t even blood-related, but we were compatible. It had to be fate,” she said.
Lloyd, who was flown down from her home in Nelspruit, said she had no reservations about donating one of her kidneys to her sister-in-law.
Lloyd said her two daughters stood by her decision.
Du Plessis’s husband, Francois, said he was ecstatic the surgery had been a success.
“It really is amazing what a difference organ donation can make.”