There is a considerable amount of information available on the Internet regarding kidney donation however sadly very little applies to Australia

Ray, Evelyn and Andrea Willox present the following web page as one families personal experience with kidney donation, and would like to share what they have learnt through this experience with anyone going through similar circumstances - in particular, anyone in Australia

If you would like to contact Ray directly, please use the contact form at the bottom of the page

Links to other Kidney related sites

transweb.org
U.S based site covering all aspects of organ transplants

livingdonorsonline
U.S. site covering kidney, liver and bone marrow donation

living organ donors
An Australian site with quite a lot of information covering organ donation -

Hello and Welcome

Thanks for visiting this website, the purpose of this site is to relay my recent experiences as a kidney donor and encourage others to firstly consider becoming a live kidney donor, and hopefully have you nominate yourself as a potential donor.

My experiences are that there is an enormous amount of pleasure to be derived from donating a kidney. I was lucky enough to be able to give a kidney to Andrea, my daughter, in October 2005; being able to make this organ donation proved to be a most rewarding and enjoyable event.

Andrea first had a transplant about 1994, this rejected 4 years ago after functioning for 7 years and she has been on dialysis since. Evelyn, her mother, offered her a kidney after the first transplant failed and the very last of the tests, an Angiogram, indicated a minor arterial problem and she was subsequently not accepted as a donor. This inability to donate caused Evelyn considerable distress. I can now relate to Evelyn's disappointment as my feeling of elation after being told I was accepted as a donor was something I never expected.
To be involved and know that you are actually able to contribute to the health and well-being of a friend or relative is a great feeling.

To fully understand the need for more live donors to be part of the program, I feel an understanding of the statistics best explains why the waiting period has now stretched out to 3-4 years and will probably continue to get longer.

• There are approximately 5.5 million Australians listed as organ donors.
  
• From this 5.5 million there were 218 donors in 2004.
  
• From these 218 donors 405 kidneys were donated and transplanted.
  
• There were 243 live kidney donors in 2004-giving a total of 648 transplants in Australia for the year.
  
• There are about 8000 people on dialysis in Australia, approximately 1500 are on the kidney transplant waiting list, the balance are not on the list due primarily to other medical conditions which preclude them as suitable recipients.
  
• Approximately 2000 new patients commence dialysis every year with about one third of these joining the transplant list.
  
• From the above figures it is obvious that the number of people on the waiting list is static at about 1500.

With the current rate of donors at about 650 per year and the waiting list increasing annually at about the same number, the waiting time is never going to become less.
Regrettably about 5% of those eligible for a transplant die prior to getting a suitable and compatible kidney donated.

To gain an increase of 200 more donors per year from the deceased donor source would require a doubling of all the resources currently handling the system - another 5,000,000 Australians to nominate as donors and an enormous increase in the infrastructures and equipment needed to maintain and accommodate donors on life support. Critically ill people on life support are the source of practically all deceased donor kidneys.

Of the 5,500,000 Australians registered as donors only 218 died in circumstances - i.e. on life support, which allowed their kidneys to be used in lifesaving transplants. This is 10 per million Australian residents, a very low figure. Some countries have a donor rate of 32 per million population.

However, if several hundred additional live donors were to step forward each year within Australia the waiting period would reduce very quickly and within a few years the wait would be down to an acceptable few months and some 70 to 100 lives would be saved each year as well.

I can only say again that being a kidney donor brought with it an enormous amount of joy and was a wonderful experience, a benefit that I never expected.

The care and attention given to us both while in hospital was exceptional and I don't doubt this would be the same irrespective of which hospital the transplant is done at. In Victoria there are 6 hospitals, that conduct transplants, each servicing a certain portion of the state, including Tasmania, there are 8 in N.S.W, 2 in QLD, 2 in SA and 1 in both WA and NT. People who are dedicated to and trained in the treatment of kidney related illness staff these specialist units.

Kidneys from deceased donors are allocated on a best match i.e. blood group, tissue type and compatibility basis against those who have been waiting the longest. With the living donors nearly all kidneys are donated to a relative or close friend, this will only take place if the donor and recipient are medically compatible and the donor is deemed (after extensive tests) to be fit and healthy. If any doubt exists the donation will not proceed, as the policy is that there is already one sick person, the medical system doesn't want two!

Rest assured from my experience any donor accepted will be OK after the event. One statistic, which somewhat appealed to me is that in 40 years of live donor transplants not one donor, has died in Australia.

The option also exists for those who may wish to become a donor, but don't have any close friend or relatives to whom they can direct the gift of a kidney, to partake in what is known as a non directed anonymous donor. This is where a live donor contributes a kidney to be transplanted into a recipient anonymously, neither the recipient nor the donor are identified to each other. This recipient is chosen on the basis of compatibility, need and time on the waiting list. Anonymity is strictly observed to ensure that no commercial arrangements are entered into as trading in human organs is highly illegal in Australia.

Medicare pays for all medical expenses but there is no compensation paid to the donor for time off work etc.
Live kidney donations have the advantage of being able to be planned in advance and to take place at a pre determined time and place and they have a considerably higher success rate than deceased donor transplants. Apart from being needed to overcome the extreme shortage of kidneys, live donations give the donor the opportunity to take part in and experience, what I believe, one of the most rewarding undertakings you will ever have the opportunity to partake in - you won't be able to enjoy the experience once you're dead.

The moral of this website is
"YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE DEAD TO BE A DONOR".

Further Contact - e-mail your interest to raywillox@bigpond.com or phone 0428 529 314 If I don't answer please leave a number and name and I will get back to you.
Please think seriously about it, talk about it with you family and friends
Hoping to hear from you

Ray Willox

If you would like more information then please use this form to Contact Ray Willox