"It's certainly not the trauma that you build up in your head."
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That's the thought organ donee Jeff Wright had regarding his receipt of a kidney from his wife Wilma in September 2018, and now the Wright's are hoping they can encourage some of the members of the community to sign up to be an organ donor as part of a national push to increase organ donor registrations.
The Griffith Local Health Advisory Committee are running a stall at the city's library over the course of the week to encourage people to sign up for organ donation.
Wilma Wright - who donated a kidney to her husband Jeff - said it was a long shot to be a match for her husband but she would without hesitation donate her kidney again.
"I had a little bit of knowledge about it because my uncle had a liver transplant," Mrs Wright said.
"I got the phone call from Sydney and Jeff wasn't home and [they] said - you're a match - and I said, 'oh, that's great', got off the phone and burst into tears.
"We had to go to Sydney for five working days and we had to have numerous tests, see psychologists, get scans ... there's no coming back."
For Mr Wright - who had been seeing a decline in his kidney function for 20 years until he went on peritoneal dialysis - he was required to travel to and from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney to receive check-ups and blood tests for close to three months, with the majority of the stay funded through IPTAS - costing Mr Wright $14 in total for the three month stay.
"I've been watching it go downhill until I got to the stage about four years ago where the kidney function was about six-seven percent, so I went on peritoneal dialysis ... I was on that for almost two years," Mr Wright said.
"I had to get at least about five days out of seven - not only blood tests but to get checked out - and then they get your results ... it quietened down to about two or three days a week.
"Now I'm once a month again - I was once every two months but they tried a different pill on me."
According to data, 1,444 Australians received a transplant in 2019 as a result of 548 deceased organ donors and their families who agreed to the donation and now the Wrights are encouraging people to sign up and help people in need.
"The average is about five years wait for a kidney," Mr Wright said.
"A living donor starts working straight away and from a deceased organ donor, they can take a few days to kick in ... if three in three sign up to it, most of those people who go up for their dialysis wouldn't have to do it.
"Everyone I speak to says - oh yeah, I think you should do that [sign up as a donor] - and I say have you signed up to it on the internet? They say, no - I'll have to do that."
READ MORE
Griffith LHAC chairwoman Margaret King said while a majority of people in the country support organ donation, only one in three people are registered to donate.
"Registration is important because it leaves your family in no doubt of your wish to be an organ and tissue donor," Mrs King said.
"There is always someone that will need an organ transplant so we're calling on the local community to talk about organ donation.
"Even if you are a registered organ and tissue donor, DonateLife Week is a great opportunity to reach out to others and encourage them to join the Australian organ donor register."
DonateLife Week runs until August 2, and if you are interested in becoming a registered donor, you can register by visiting the DonateLife website here.