Cape Town - There was no hesitation when Allister Smith heard that his brother, Colin, was in renal failure and needed a kidney transplant.
“Of course, he’s my brother. I would do it again and again to give Colin, potentially, another 20 good years,” he said.
The Gqeberha brothers’ living donor transplant marked the landmark 800th kidney transplant at Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital’s transplant centre.
“I had no reason to suspect I could be at risk for kidney problems. Four years ago, I was playing basketball, jogging and cycling. I was fit and healthy, I drank plenty of water, and I never had pain in my kidneys,” Colin, now 44, recalled.
“Over the next two years I went through some stressful times, including a divorce and a robbery at my home. One night not long after that, I felt very restless and just couldn’t get to sleep. I woke up in ICU the next day with the doctor telling me my blood pressure was so high that he could hardly believe I survived.”
Colin’s high blood pressure left his kidneys severely damaged. He became dependent on regular dialysis sessions at the National Renal Care (NRC) dialysis unit in Gqeberha, where his blood was filtered and artificially purified as a substitute for the detoxification function usually performed by healthy kidneys.
“Before I agreed to accept Allister’s offer and go through with it, I did a lot of research about kidney transplants and the potential risk for the donor. I discussed it thoroughly with my brother to make sure he knew as much as I did about this huge undertaking, and we weighed up all the options. He said, there and then, he was ready to give me his kidney – a new chance for a normal life,” Colin said.
Allister added: “It doesn’t feel so much of a big deal because I trust God and I will do anything I can to help my brother. Colin is five years older than me and, although as grown men we don’t talk about it much, I love him dearly. It was a privilege for me to be able to give him a kidney, and we’ve grown even closer since.”
Allister, a maintenance technician at Volkswagen’s Gqeberha plant, was discharged from hospital within a week of the procedure in early June to remove his kidney, and he returned to work a month later.
Colin, a team leader in a manufacturing company, is recovering well and returned to work at the beginning of August.
Mande Toubkin, Netcare’s general manager emergency, trauma, transplant and corporate social investment, congratulated the transplant team at Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital on reaching the milestone of 800 kidney transplants.
“We wish the Smith brothers everything of the best, and the transplant team at the hospital many more years of making a profound difference to so many families’ futures through life-saving procedures.”
Cape Times