Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Family celebration to honour heart donor who saved a life
TOMORROW marks a day 24-year-old Matthew Legemaate never thought he’d see.
It’s a day he, his family and friends will use to honour the organ donor and the family who saved his life five years ago.
Matthew was born with a congenital heart condition and had his first open-heart surgery at 36 hours old. Four more followed before he was 10.
From the age of 13, he survived on a permanent oxygen supply and was placed on a transplant waiting list. So weak he had to sleep for 20 hours a day, Matthew fought to attend school daily for two hours.
In 2017, when Matthew was 19, the Legemaates were told he was “not going to make many more months”, said his mom, Janet.
“We discussed this with him and tried to prepare for him to pass away.”
One Sunday in October that year, the family got a call that a donor had been found. At the Busamed Gateway Private Hospital in Durban the next morning, his doctor, Robbie Kleinloog, told the family Matthew had a 10% chance of making it through the surgery,
Matthew took the odds, saying he was exhausted and tired of being on oxygen: 23 days later, he left the hospital to start his life.
In August 2018, he cycled 35km in the Amashova race and in 2019 completed 65km.
Covid and lockdown prevented him from improving on that.
“He is very well physically and has no health issues whatsoever,” said Janet.
But not a day goes by that he is not grateful to the donor who saved his life.
“He gets very emotional about the donor,” said Janet, adding that he talked about the person all the time.
“When he wakes up in the morning, he thinks ‘I feel well, I know it’s because of my donor’.
“It’s bitter-sweet: Matthew says on special occasions his heart aches for the family of the donor.”
The Legemaates began the Hero777 Foundation to raise awareness about organ and tissue donations.
“His dream is to leave a legacy that more and more people will decide to become donors and many more lives will be saved. People are scared to talk about this and they need to,” she said.
The foundation is raising funds for phase 2 of the memorial to donors in Durban Botanic Gardens
eThekwini Heart Hospital transplant co-ordinator Cindy Goldie remembers meeting Matthew when he was 12. Their main objective had been how they could extend his life.
“Janet and Matt have done so much to promote organ donation, and we rely heavily on their work at the Hero777 Foundation.”
Goldie encouraged people to visit the website www.hero777.co.za to find out more and how to register.