Donors living life to the fullest after donating organs
John Low would not have been able to meet his wife, start his own business and enjoy outdoor activities if not for his sister, who gave him one of her kidneys.
Twenty-seven years have passed and now, both the 54-year-old convenient shop owner and his sister are leading healthy lives.
“I thank my sister for giving me a second chance to live, and my other siblings for their care and support,” said the happy father of two children, aged 20 and 24.
Low was diagnosed with kidney problems when he was just 11. Since then, the Tangkak boy travelled alone in a bus from Johor to here every three months for treatment.
“I went on like this for 16 years until my condition deteriorated and I had the transplant,” he said.
Low recalled how his protective parents restricted many of his activities.
“I knew my parents were worried about me but when they kept saying I could not do this or that, I lost confidence in myself. At one point, I even felt I was useless,” he said when met at the launch of the National Organ Donation Awareness Campaign at the Bangsar LRT station here yesterday.
Low has been joining his fellow organ recipients from the Green Ribbon Support Association Kuala Lumpur to promote organ donations and clear myths associated with this noble act.
Andrew Paul Louis, a 52-year-old donor, explained that donating organs would not affect one’s health.
“I’m still as healthy as I was before the surgery. In fact, I was discharged from the hospital on the third day after the surgery,” said the event manager, who donated one kidney to his wife some 15 years ago.
At the event, National Organ Donation Public Awareness Action Committee chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye and hundreds of volunteers from the Health Ministry, National Transplant Resource Centre and Prasarana Malaysia headed to several LRT stations to promote the cause.
Although the number of organ donation pledges had increased in the recent years, Lee felt the total number was still too low.
“As of last month, a total of 362,450 people have signed up – the equivalent to 1.2% of the population,” he told reporters later, adding that the total number of actual donors since 1976 was at 597.
He said there were about 20,660 people on the waiting list for transplants.
For details on organ donation, visit www.dermaorgan.gov.my.
A total of 362,450 people have signed up – the equivalent to 1.2% of the population.
Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye