Mikkel

Mikkel, Trinidad, was a young teenager when he developed end-stage renal failure. He had to move schools just to be closer to the hospital for dialysis treatment and longed for a normal life. When he was 16 years old his mother stepped forward as a donor and Transplant Links worked with the transplant team at the National Organ Transplant Unit, Trinidad, to prepare him and his mother for a transplant.

“I definitely saw a transplant as a source of hope for change. I personally found dialysis awful, having to go to the hospital so many times a week. Sometimes after dialysis you’d feel really sick and weak and then because your kidneys are not working, you have to take certain injections for the hormones that you’re not getting yourself. I saw the transplant as a sign of hope. For me, it was the best possible option.

“My mother and I have always had a close relationship. I live in a single parent household so I’ve always had a close relationship with my Mum and my Grandmother. If something were to happen to my Mum and it was the other way around I would give her a kidney, because I honestly love her so much.”

Mikkel is now at university studying Health Science in Barbados and is enjoying life free of dialysis. “I’m in my second year and I really like it. I’m one of those students whose really involved in everything from choir to the medical students association. I volunteer, I play the piano, in into art and painting. I’m very busy!”

Despite living away from home Mikkel is still very close to his mother. “Even when I was leaving the airport last week and turned to my Mum to say goodbye I said “I always have a piece of you with me”.

Pamela

Pamela had been on dialysis for 7 years due to her kidney failure. During this time, she says she felt extremely weak, had lost a lot of weight and her skin colour darkened as she became sicker. In 2017, she heard about the kidney transplant programme and her daughter Dionne was quick to step forward as a donor.

Pamela not only received a new kidney, she received a new lease on life. She said, “I am no longer restricted by dialysis in terms of what I can eat and drink. When I was on dialysis I was limited to a small amount of fluids per day, now I have to drink over three litres. I couldn’t eat foods high in potassium such as bananas and mangoes. I am not tired from dialysis or limited to being connected to a machine for three hours three times a week, and I can go to the beach! Most importantly, I have the energy to play with my grandchildren!”.

Wayne

In 2013, Wayne received a kidney from his wife Debbie-Ann. But life before that was tough. “Life on dialysis was very challenging, it was very rough. Being injected with those huge needles twice per week was a gruelling process for me. Going for treatment was time consuming. It was demanding financially, physically, emotionally and it took sacrifice for me to remain faithful to my diet. Part of the reason I was unemployed for over eight years was the fact that so much time was taken up with dialysis, traveling for hours from one parish to the next, leaving home in the wee hours of the morning to get to the first shift for treatment and not reaching home until late evening. It was also very heartbreaking at times hearing of or sometimes even witnessing the death of many, with whom I had formed friendships. It was hard seeing the suffering of children and elderly alike. It was very painful.”

“Learning of the possibility of transplant was a great moment for us. Just thinking about getting a second chance at life, was a like a time of victory. We waited for a moment like this for thirteen years, which is actually the duration of our marriage.

“We thought about transplant for all those thirteen years, prayed to God for a miracle, for healing, every single day, literally, and we had no idea that this team, The Transplant Links Team along with the Jamaican Cornwall Regional Hospital Renal Unit Team would have been the agents of the miracle that God would have provided.

“Having the transplant is like having a new lease on life. It is like having a transformed life. It is a life of renewed hope. Dreams can now be pursued without the extra baggage of kidney failure.

“We can categorically say to the Transplant Links team that we are eternally grateful for you and for the way in which you impacted our lives and the lives of so many others. You certainly came and you delivered. We encourage you to continue to give hope to the hopeless, to keep bringing light to circumstances that seem dark and dismal.