My Angel Garbriel helped me to have the gift of life...
AFTER six years on the transplant list, Gregge Madan was given the greatest gift imaginable for Christmas – a new kidney and a second chance at life.
What’s more, his surgeon was called Gabriel, or as Gregge calls him, his ‘Angel Gabriel’.
The 54-year-old from Didsbury says his transplant in 2012 changed the life of not just him, but also his family. He is now urging others to join the organ donation register so they too can help give the gift of life one day.
Gregge, who works for the British Council, was put onto dialysis about seven years ago after he began to suffer kidney failure. The organ was functioning at just 6 per cent of what it should have been, and Gregge spent four hours a day, three days a week, undergoing treatment. Although he continued to work, the condition drastically impacted his life.
He couldn’t go further than a three-hour drive from Manchester Royal Infirmary, and wasn’t allowed to drink more than 750-1,000ml of liquid a day.
Gregge described his experience as an ‘emotional rollercoaster’ full of waiting, dashed hopes, and realisation that someone had to die for him to get his transplant.
“I don’t know where my kidney came from, but I think of that person every Christmas,” he said. “Every time a kidney becomes available, two people get called up – the first choice (recipient), and the back-up.
“I’ve been called as a back-up eight or nine times over the years and each time I’ve been sent home. It’s tough, you’re hopeful and then disappointed, but at the same time you are pleased for the other person who could have been waiting 10 years for that day.
“Just before Christmas in 2012, I got called up as back-up again, we went to the hospital and waited there all day.
“About 9pm we were told the first choice person was getting the kidney, and that we could go home.
“We were disappointed, my wife especially.
“We went home and got into bed, and a few hours later we were woken by the phone.
“The first choice person was unable to undergo the transplant, the kidney was still usable and they wanted me to go in.
“We raced to the hospital and when we got there, there had been some sort of incident involving chemicals and we weren’t allowed in. People were walking around in protective suits. Eventually we managed to explain and were taken through. I went down to surgery at around 6am.”
Gregge says that at first, the transplanted kidney didn’t work.
“I had to have dialysis again, but then the next day it was working fine. My surgeon was amazing as well – he was called Gabriel, so we joked about him being my Angel Gabriel.”
Gregge’s kidney is now functioning at 35pc.
“It’s not perfect,” he said, “but it’s completely changed my life.”
Over the past five years, 176 people in Greater Manchester have died while waiting for a transplant. Although the number of donors is increasing and the waiting lists are getting smaller, there are still around 6,000 people on the UK transplant list.
Dawn Lee, a specialist nurse with NHS Blood and Transplant covering hospitals in Manchester, said: “Please, let your family know your decision and ask them if they want to be donors. Don’t leave your family guessing what you would have wanted to happen.”
For more information on how to join the register visit www. organdonation.nhs.uk.