The Ballad of Billy The Kidney

Great Figures in Transplant / Non-transplant History > Stan Whippy Ritova

2009-11-07T01:23:00+11:00

Stan Whippy Ritova, titled Ratu Viliame Ritova (1935-2009) was a noted journalist in Australia and in his home nation of Fiji.

He stood for the welfare and rights of kidney patients in Fiji.

Paradoxically, the shortage of facilities in his home country was to eventually force him to move to Australia. From this base he continued his journalistic career up to the time of his death.

His work eventually led to the eventual establishment of the first kidney dialysis centre in Fiji in 2008. (2008!)

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Obituaries in:

Anshoo Mala Chandra, New Dialysis Centre to Save Lives, Fiji Government Online Portal, 27th May 2008

Image credit: the image of Stan Whippy Ritova with the non-elected and self-appointed Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, is from the Fiji Government Online Portal of 27th May 2008

Location of the Fijian Islands via Google Maps

Running to your strengths: the views of Thérèse Rein

2009-10-31T01:19:00+11:00

The 7.30 Report on ABC [Australia] last Wednesday night featured an interview with Thérèse Rein, wife of the Prime Minister of Australia, the Rt Hon Kevin Rudd MP. The interview was conducted by Kerry O'Brien.

Whilst not specifically about transplantation, nor the illnesses associated with this, Ms Rein nonetheless did have some very interesting and worthwhile things to say about identifying one's health strengths and then running with those - rather than being fixated with the negatives.

Broadband version of interview

Dial-up version of interview (very thoughtful of the ABC to provide this!)

Transcript of interview

Ms Rein grew up with a father who did not let his paraplegia get in the way of developing an aeronautical engineering career. She later built up an international business specialising in job placement of disabled people.

Ms Rein's words about taking stock of one's limitations and then running to one's strengths are very worthwhile.

When confronted with a chronic illness - such as are often associated with organ transplantation - one can sometimes forget that one still has many strengths and skills that one can develop and utilise.

[...] something that I actually heard [...] what Paralympians do - and my dad was a Paralympian. What Paralympians do is they don't focus on what doesn't work, they focus on making what does work, work to the max. And that's what my dad did. And I think I've learnt a little bit about how to do that from him.

Indeed, I try to get this across to my students at TAFE; although not in the context of chronic illness, some experience other feelings of negativity after arriving in a new country or being out of the workplace for many years or just not being confident enough.

My message is to certainly learn what you can in your classes - but to also take stock of your existing skills and strengths and to use those as well.

So cheers to Therese Rein - I shall play the first part of this interview in my classes in the future.

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Image credit: Website of the Prime Minister of Australia

Old kidneys for "old folks"?

2009-10-24T16:24:00+11:00

And as we mark United Nations Day today, here's a googly bowled up in the local media: old kidneys for old folks.

I must admit that I hitherto had been under the impression that a donor's age had no real bearing in the allocation of donor kidneys. Potentially, so I believed, an "old" kidney that was otherwise healthy could tick over quite well in a young recipient.

Maybe this article suggests that kidneys with identified issues up to a certain threshold would be considered for elderly patients.

It could also suggest that

My previous understanding was wrong.

The newspaper didn't quite get it right - and general newspapers are notorious for getting transplant stories wrong. Like most of the general population, most journalists do not 100% understand what they are dealing with here. I can excuse this in most people, but journalists have a professional responsibilty to get things right. (I am not suggesting that the journalist who wrote this story is off the mark.)

Well, I don't quite know what to make of this. Should "old folks" be grateful for a chance at a transplant? I know at least one older person who is quite happy to keep chugging along with peritoneal dialysis.

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Article in the Sydney Morning Herald

Disclaimer

I tried to lead this post off with a picture as per my usual practice, but alas I am stumped.

The vexed issue of transporting donor organs

2009-10-17T22:46:00+11:00

Local media has this week reported that Australian scientists have developed an improvement in the solution in which donor hearts are transported – making a donor heart viable for up to 14 hours, as against the current situation of 5 or so hours.

The solution also apparently makes the organ generally more viable for transplantation, even when rapid transfer is accomplished.

The time factor is of great importance in a geographically-large nation such as Australia, where it can be impossible to move a donor organ coast to coast due to limited time frames.

This would also have effects in other geographically-large nations such as the USA (which geographically is about the same size as Australia) or Russia.

The Australian newspaper reported this as follows:

The crucial extra hours would for the first time allow a heart that suddenly became available on the east or west coasts of Australia to be flown across the country if a suitable match were identified -- or even across the Tasman [Sea, to New Zealand].

This is especially important in the case of my country, which amongst the advanced nations of the world has a poor record of organ donation.

It also appears that this would also open donor organ movement between Australia and New Zealand.

An increase in the range of potential donor organs would, to my untrained eye, appear to be a path to long-term increase in likely success of organ transplants overall.

At the moment this breakthrough is geared to donor hearts. A stated aim of this research is to extend this to other donor organs.

The research for this breakthrough was undertaken at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute of Sydney.

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Articles in

ABC [Australia] News Online

Sydney Morning Herald

Image credit: from the blog Hannah's World

Postcard from Adelaide

2009-10-10T01:32:00+11:00

We’re having a short vacation in the city of Adelaide, capital city of the Australian State of South Australia – 1320 km (820 miles) west of Wollongong.

This has given me cause to reflect on the very different (to the rest of Australia) system of organ donation in South Australia.

Organ transplantation is a matter for State law rather than federal law in Australia. Given this, South Australia has embarked on a model of a network donor co-ordinators pro-actively identifying potential sources of donor organs – a model similar to that used in Spain. [footnote 1]

I realise that this might, to a casual reader, sound a wee bit calculating and macabre. But what can I say - these very sad events happen (sudden and accidental death), and to my mind it at least provided some small solace to the grief-stricken family of the person who gave me his/her kidney that that person was helping 7 or 8 other people (and their families) change their lives.

In 1996 the South Australian Government also launched a state-based organ donation – the South Australia Organ Donation Agency [footnote 2]. In this regard this State was far ahead of its state counterparts in Australia and 12 years ahead of federal action with the formation in 2008 of the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority.

South Australia’s proactive stance in matters of organ donation has led it to a statistical figure of 17 donors per million population (dpmp) (or even 20 dpp according to Lawrence), against a national median of 10 dpmp. [footnote 3].

What does this mean for the average Australian citizen?

For some time, the statistically best place to live in Australia if you needed an organ transplant has been South Australia.

Its not right that one's chance of success in an organ transplant should be in part tied to where one happens to live in a nation - especially when the overall rate for organ transplantation in my country is so relatively poor for an advanced nation. It is to be hoped that the new national authority will be able to work to fix such inequities.

And now, Pauline and I are going to hit the town!

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FOOTNOTES

1 – Thomas M and Klapdor M (2008), The future of organ donation in Australia: moving beyond the ‘gift of life’. Parliament of Australia – Research paper # 11 2008-09.

2 – Lawrence A (2004). Presumed consent organ donation under Australian law. Student assessment, Australian Medical Association / Australian National University LAWS internship program. Pp 8 – 9.

3 – Thomas M and Klapdor M (2008), The future of organ donation in Australia: moving beyond the ‘gift of life’. Parliament of Australia – Research paper # 11 2008-09.

Image credit: the picture of the evening skyline of Adelaide is from the 2009-2010 schedule of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Dance Company.

Great Figures in Transplant / Non-Transplant History > Janine Murphy

2009-10-03T01:22:00+10:00

This month's nomination for Great Figures in Transplant / Non-Transplant History goes to a lady who demonstrated that you can still rise to great works in your chosen field - sometimes even with chronic illness.

Janine Murphy was the late Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Australian Mint. It appears from her obituary notices that she had had a long-term illness, no doubt leading to her liver transplant.

People sometimes assume that you can't be a contributing member of society - in a salaried or non-salaried way - if you have a chronic illness. But there are plenty of people who demonstrate the opposite.

Obituary notice in

The website of the Royal Australian Mint

The Brisbane Times

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Image credit: from the prospectus of the XXVI Mint Directors' Conference, Canberra 2010

Home dialysis and the cost of side issues

2009-09-30T14:56:46+10:00

This is post # 100 in this blog.

This article in the Sydney Morning Herald caught my eye.

Governments are very happy to shift the cost when it saves them a quid, but they can be a bit slower when there are unintentional consequences such as shown in this article.

I recall that I had enormous problems safely getting rid of my empty syringes of pharmaceutical EPO (which, by the way, is legally prescribed to patients with renal failure). No one in the health services wanted to assist me in taking responsibility for them.

Let me quickly add that I much preferred home dialysis anyway - much more comfy at home, and I had scope to do my 9-hour overnight sessions - but one did feel mildly imposed upon when such anomalies popped up.

Quick, conductor! The screens!

2009-09-19T01:16:00+10:00

Dear old CityRail. Just when I think they can't torment me any further, along come new ways of doing so.

We have a new train timetable coming into effect on October 11. And CityRail have just announced (or admitted) that not all trains on my local line (the South Coast line) will have toilets.

Now bear in mind, folks, that the trip between, say, Kiama to Central takes over 2 hours.

And bear in mind that there are plenty of people who place value on the on-board loo:

Kidney transplantees, who are not supposed to place undue strain on their newly-installed plumbing
Elderly people
People on chemotherapy
Children
And people who just need the loo

To tell the truth, I only ever use the on-board loos in time of dire emergency. This is because the state of the loos are usually rather disgusting. But sometimes I just gotta go (especially with all that water that I have to drink).

CityRail helpfully suggests that I just use trains that have on-board loos; however, the new timetable doesn't give any clues as to which is which.

Oh well! Back to my motor car and the National Public Toilet Map.

Image credit: The picture of the Millenium Train parked at Central Station (Sydney) is from Skyscraper City

More benefits of career change: the case of Charlie Chaplin

2009-09-12T15:54:00+10:00

As I've intimated in earlier posts, sometimes having to change careers for health reasons can bring unexpected bonuses.

In previous posts I have written about the fun of student excursions. (And lest the teachers out there laugh hollowly, let me explain that I am an adult educator; this makes all the difference in student conduct when we're out.)

These field trips have or are about to take me (oh - and my students) to:

2 of the "big 4" accounting firms in Sydney - Deloitte and KPMG
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's operations centre in Sydney
Local government offices in the outer Sydney districts of Camden and Campbelltown
Parliament House, Sydney - including a guest symposium for my students with the Hon. David Campbell, Minister for Transport in the Government of New South Wales
The State Library of New South Wales
The Sydney Opera House

Another bonus comes when a student seeks help in a topic which happens to really grab your inrerest. One such student came to me recently seeking ways to locate video material on Sir Charles (Charlie) Chaplin (1889 - 1977).

Without taking over from the student, I suggested several ways that the student might locate such material. I then ran off and looked up YouTube myself.

My results follow.

The image of Chaplin is from the blog Biblioteca Teologica.

The first clip is from The Gold Rush (1925), and was uploaded by ozzanothrosko. The boot was apparently made of liquorice.

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The next clip is the famous Dance of the Bread Rolls, also from The Gold Rush. It was uploaded by MeatHandler.

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This clip is of a highly choreographed boxing match. It is from City Lights (1931), and was also uploaded by ozzanthrosko.

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And the final clip is a collection of excerpts, set to the song Smile (written by Chaplin himself) and produced by ChaplinsViolin. The fact of this version of the song is being performed by Michael Jackson adds poignancy to the moment.

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Great Figures in Transplant / Non-Transplant History > Pauline Daley

2009-09-05T14:21:52+10:00

Today it is appropriate to honour a truly great figure in transplant history - my wife Pauline.

An important way of getting through a major obstacle in life is to get your loved ones onside - partner, family, friends, workmates. Pauline is an outstanding example of this, going way beyond the call of duty.

(And she had no prior warning of this trribute, by the way.)

Recently I completed my formal re-training by graduating from the University of Wollongong with a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) teaching qualification.

This is the formal end of a pathway I started on in 2003 when I first enrolled in the University's M.Ed. program in adult education & training.

But its a pathway that I would have found impossible to reach without the support and love of my wife Pauline.

And indeed, this support goes back further to the period 1998 to 2002, with the days of home haemo-dialysis.

I was fortunate to be able to do this at home. But again, this would have been plainly impossible without Pauline's support.

In those years, Pauline deliberately slowed her career right down simply so she could be a support.

Most dialysis nights, I got home from work to find that she had mostly or entirely completed the set-up. And then she would strip the machine if I had to race to work next morning.

And this from a lady who was previously barely able to tolerate the sight of a paper cut.

Then there were the interminable hours sitting about clinics when we were on holidays.

And the big day when the transplant call came out of the blue. A simple country drive for a picnic suddenly became a dash to Sydney and months of disruption.

All through this, Pauline came up smiling.

And she could have avoided all this whilst we were engaged back in the early 1990s.

During this time, the magnitude of my kidney problems became apparent. I did what I believed was the honourable thing and indicated to Pauline that I would entirely understand if she wanted to withdraw from our engagement.

Her response? To tell me that I was talking nonsense, and that we need to decide on invitations by the end of the week.

From the bottom of my heart - thank you, Pauline. I love you very deeply, and your role as a Great Figure in Transplant / Non-Transplant History is highly deserved.

Our picture is from the website of the University of Wollongong.
The following YouTube video of a rendition of Stand By Me is posted by Playing For Change.

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