Donating the greatest gift
Saving lives through organ transplants
JUST 12 months ago, Brian Tucker was on death’s door.
Diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease seven years earlier, the condition began to take hold of him in 2016. By January 2017, he was given just months to live.
His only chance of surviving was finding, and successfully receiving, a new liver for transplant.
Before the devastating disease stripped Mr Tucker of his independence and zest for life, neither the Norlane grandfather or his family had thought much about organ donation.
Mr Tucker spent nearly nine months on the waiting list before a minor heart issue left him temporarily ineligible. After weeks of testing Mr Tucker was relisted and finally, in October, a match was found.
His daughter Kellie Tucker said the family were overcome with joy, but that feeling was shattered when the liver was found to be unsuitable and the transplant did not go ahead.
“We were celebrating our last Father’s Day together, our last Grand Final day together, our last Christmas together,” Ms Tucker said. “That’s how bad it got.” The family tried not to give up hope, but the waiting was the hardest part. Mr Tucker — who was receiving medication through a drip line in his neck — was in severe pain.
On January 29, 2018 — Mr Tucker’s 67th birthday — the family received the phone call they had been waiting for.
“Dad was in hospital having his fluid drained and Mum was told there was a match,” Ms Tucker said.
“It was a year to the day that he had been placed on the list.”
For five hours, Ms Kellie, her sisters and her mother waited anxiously to learn if the transplant had been successful.
Finally, they were told it had.
Nearly six months on Mr Tucker is living the life he enjoyed seven years ago.
“He immediately looked better, healthier,” Ms Tucker said.
“Now he and Mum can go out, go shopping and have a meal. The things most people take for granted that they hadn’t been able to do.”
While the family know the transplant could be rejected at any point, Ms Tucker said doctors believe the transplant has added 20 years to Mr Tucker’s life.
The family are now encouraging the broader community to sign up to the organ donor list and increase the wider understanding of transplants.
“My kids — the oldest was 10 and the youngest two — spent a whole year in hospital (visiting Mr Tucker),” Ms Tucker said.
“I decided I needed to do something to raise awareness because I thought my dad was going to die.”
The Tucker family reached out to Shepparton charity Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation, which will host Zaidee’s Rainbow Powder Stomp run at Bellarine Estate winery on October 6.
Charity chief executive officer Allan Turner — the father of 7-year-old Zaidee, who died from cerebral aneurysm — said the Tuckers’ story had inspired him to bring the event to Geelong.
All money raised will go to Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation and will be used to further promote organ and tissue donation across Australia.
To register visit: zaideesrainbowpowderstomp.org.