“There was a stirring in my heart and I knew immediately that I was going to give my brother one of my kidneys.”

  The attractive 23-year-old final year medical student gave Ignatius Muller (20) the gift of life for Christmas after he was diagnosed with end stage chronic renal failure in September last year.

  There were only two options for the young man – to spend four hours, three times a week on dialysis for the rest of his life, or have a kidney transplant.

  “The dialysis sentence was not an option at his age,” Marinda says matter-of-factly.  The memory of her baby brother battling through his second year finals in B.Com Law at the Puk in between visits to Mooimed’s renal unit is still fresh in her mind.  So is the image of him sitting amongst much older patients, struggling to fight the depression engulfing him.  Dialysis had also robbed the family of their annual holiday away.

  Marinda had six weeks in which to get used to the idea and never once doubted her decision.  The fact that every one of the many, many pre-operative tests confirmed her extraordinary compatibility strengthened her resolve even more.

   “I also had enough background knowledge to make an informed decision,” she says.

  The operation was done at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre on 15 December, probably one of the most inconvenient times for such an important procedure.

  “The doctors were wonderfully accommodating – they understood that I couldn’t interrupt my studies during the year,” she says.

  Looking back, she says the worst was being wheeled into theatre whilst there was nothing wrong with her.  The last thing she saw was the tear-stained faces of her mother, father and brother looking down at her, saying goodbye.

  “At that moment I wanted to get up and run out,” she admits.

  After numerous complications and setbacks that kept Ignatius in his hospital bed for a total of 28 days in three months, his recovery was nothing less than remarkable.  He spent the routine four days in the intensive care unit and another four days in a regular ward before being discharged.  He is four weeks into his three-month long recuperation period and still faces a lifetime on medication to prevent his body from rejecting the organ.  He has to swallow 22 pills a day, every day and at exactly the same time.  But, he says, it is a small price to pay for his second chance. 

  Ignatius is embracing his new found energy and zest for life.  Last year he defied all odds and passed his second year and will be able to begin third year within a few weeks, subject to certain conditions.  He will also be allowed to go on with his sport.

  “The past few months have made me appreciate everything so much more - it’s like looking at life through new eyes,” he says.  “All the things that used to be a mission are not a problem any more.”

  And as for his sister?  They have always been close, he says, especially since Marinda started studying in Bloemfontein.

  “But now I am so protective over her.  We share an intensity of relationship that other siblings don’t have.”

   Marinda is amazed at how much she has grown through her experience.

  “I’m usually more comfortable giving than receiving but I have learned to sit back and accept all the support and love, and I’ve learned that a friend in need is truly a friend indeed,” she says.

  For her, the whole experience has been “unbelievably rewarding” and she says it is a privilege to witness how “such a small sacrifice can make such a big change”.  After spending a brief period in hospital under observation she is in the middle the regular recovery period prescribed after abdominal surgery.  She will be closely monitored over the next few months and will need annual check-ups to make sure her one kidney is still working well.

  “It’s really no big deal,” she says.

   “Only a kidney and liver tissue can be transplanted from a living donor.  Each donor can supply seven organs for transplant.  I have six more to go but I will probably not be alive to experience the joy of the legacy I leave behind next time around.”

If you are not an organ donor when you die you take seven people with you.   If you are interested in becoming an organ donor, please call (toll free) 0800 22 66 11 or visit www.odf.org.za