No one knows what turn the life of 52-year old Patrick Mosamo from Kibler Park in the south of Johannesburg would have taken had he not received a donor kidney. Mosamo was diagnosed with kidney failure at the age of 32 in 1987. He had a long history of high blood pressure, which led to kidney failure.

‘€œI was on hypertension treatment but as soon as I saw that I was getting better, I stopped taking my medication. And it was at this time that kidney failure struck me’€, he says.

When he heard the news that he had kidney failure, he says he ‘€˜became very frustrated and was about to lose hope in life’€™. He even had plans to divorce his wife. But she refused. She supported him through his illness.

‘€œI was ill all the time and my wife was still very young. I didn’€™t want to become a burden to her. I told her and both our families that I wanted a divorce. But she said ‘€˜she doesn’€™t want a divorce’€™,’€ recalls Mosamo.

On the other hand, his extended family was not as supportive as his wife was.

‘€œMy family did not want to donate for me because they didn’€™t understand a thing about kidney failure. In particular, they did not understand that a person’€™s bodily organ ‘€“ a kidney ‘€“ can be removed and transplanted into someone else’€, he says.

But Mosamo’€™s life took a turn for the better. After two years of living with kidney disease, Mosamo received a kidney from a total stranger. The new kidney gave him a ‘€˜second chance in life’€™.

‘€œI think I was very lucky to receive a kidney, I got my life back’€, he said gladly.

Mosamo urges the public to ‘€œconsider donating bodily organs, as that could save the lives of many people’€.

Ntomb’€™kayise Mbatha, 46, from White City Jabavu Johannesburg was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2003. But she was fortunate that her family already understood everything about kidney disease. The following year (2004) she received a kidney from her sister. Six years have passed and she is still in good health.

‘€œThere are patients who stay on the waiting-list for a long period of time, but I was fortunate because my family had encountered a case like mine before. My sister and I were about to donate a kidney to the other sister of ours who passed away.We knew. We had an idea. I was fortunate I never stayed for a very long time’€, said Mbatha.

Although she had kidney disease for a relatively brief period, Mbatha knows how difficult it is to live with the illness.  

‘€œI don’€™t wish to go back to the condition I was in because I know that it’€™s difficult. You lose weight, your complexion changes, you become a different person’€, she recalls.

She appeals to individuals and, particularly, families of those diagnosed with kidney failure to assist their relatives by sharing their organs.

‘€œIf you have a family member with kidney failure it’€™s important to visit the hospital to check if you are a close match or not. If you are a close match, you can be able to give them life. This life is very difficult.”

Not all patients are as fortunate as Patrick and Ntombikayise.   The majority of kidney patients is still on the waiting list for a transplant.

For more information on organ donation contact the Organ Donor Foundation on 0800 22 66 11 or visit their website on www.odf.org.za.  

Click on the above link to listen to the audio interview.