Western Victorian kidney transplant recipient Barbara Merrifield said not a day goes by where she doesn't think about her donor.
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At the age of 38, Ms Merrifield received a pair of donated kidneys after a life-long battle with a condition which looked to completely shut down her organs.
Ms Merrifield was diagnosed with Reflux Nephropathy at 14, a condition in which fluid from the bladder leaks into the kidneys, scarring them.
When the condition had worsened in her 30s, the mother of two was placed on peritoneal dialysis with her kidneys retaining about five per cent of normal function.
Her condition worsened in 2013, with doctors recommending moving Ms Merrifield to the more invasive hemodialysis.
"In late 2013 it started not being as effective. My body started filling up with toxins and fluid and I started struggling with a lot of health issues," she said.
Luckily in 2014, Ms Merrifield was matched up with a donor.
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"You don't know when you are going to get the call. I tried not to focus on waiting for the phone call too much. It was one of those things where, when it happened I would deal with it - rather than getting myself too worked up," she said.
"When I got the call it was a Tuesday night. I didn't actually answer the call because it was a number I didn't know.
"I had a shower and drove myself down to Melbourne. Very weird drive, a lot of things are going through your head.
"You are wondering what tomorrow will bring. You know somebody had died, and that really plays havoc on your mind.
"How can you be ecstatic when somebody is saying goodbye to their loved one?"
Almost ten years on from the transplant, and Ms Merrifield said she has returned to a "normal" and happy life.
"I am going on nine years now and I have managed to get back to work. I do a lot of volunteering with meals on wheels," she said.
"I run a little support group called Spare Parts Club for people pre and post-transplant in regional areas that don't have the access that city people might have to all the professionals in big hospitals.
"I keep myself busy. A day doesn't go by where you don't think about your donor. The anniversary of your transplant is filled with elation and sadness because you know that someone is mourning a loved one."
Finding a donor
Grampians Health Nurse Donation Specialist Larna Woodyatt works on the other end of the donor system, having to make the difficult conversation with the family of the recently deceased about donation.
"My role involves me being a support person for donor families in providing them with accurate information they require to consider organ donation," she said.
"It is for a loved one that they, unfortunately, find in an ICU or emergency department who will die in a way that organ donation is possible."
Ms Woodyatt said of all the people who will die in a hospital, less than two per cent will be under the circumstances enabling organ donation - that is on an oxygen machine or ventilator.
"We know the opportunity for donation is extremely rare. As a community, the only opportunity to help the around 1800 people on the organ donation waiting list in Australia at any one time is to register to be an organ donor," she said.
"That one small step of registering your wish to be an organ donor has the potential to save somebody's life."
Saving a life
As part of DonateLife Week 2022, Ms Woodyatt encouraged Wimmera residents to register themselves as organ donors.
Data from DonateLife has revealed 21 per cent of Horsham residents have registered for donation.
Ms Woodyatt said it was important to register, and also to make loved ones aware of the decision should they have to make it on your behalf.
"Families will be asked to uphold consent for donation to occur. We know that nine out of 10 families will give consent for donation when they knew their loved one's wishes, but this drops to four out of 10 families saying yes when they don't know what their loved ones would have wanted in regards to donation," she said.
"It makes are real difference for families at such a tragic grief-stricken time when they are in the midst of losing their loved one."
One organ donor has the potential to save seven lives with their organs - in addition to eye and tissue donation which helps improve the quality of life for many others.
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Ms Woodyatt said parts of a donated body may also be given to ethically-certified research projects to move forward advances in medicine.
"Hundreds of lives could be saved in the future with the opportunity for donations to research," she said.
"Not only are donors helping people here and now with a transplanted organ, but can help people potentially well into the future."
For Ms Merrifield, her donation presented a new chance at life, something she was forever thankful for.
"I wouldn't be here. There is no way I would have survived this long without it," she said.
"I think people just have to realise that it gives people a second chance in life. You don't know when it is going to be in your own backyard. It could be someone in your family one day that is affected by organ failure.
"It is important that people talk about it, and there is more awareness about how it does change people's lives."
Register as an organ and tissue donor at donatelife.gov.au/register.
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