Key Points
- Leang Ly has chronic kidney disease and is one of more than 1,800 Australians waiting for an organ donation.
- The number of people receiving transplants fell dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and has not recovered.
- Australians are being urged to register as organ donors and potentially save lives.
Leang Ly has been waiting nearly five years for a kidney transplant.
She suffers from chronic kidney disease, possibly the result of medication prescribed as a child living in a refugee camp, after her family escaped from Cambodia.
She spends six hours a day on dialysis, relying on a machine to filter her blood, while also working full-time and caring for her family, including her 12-year-old son Raymond.
"He's amazing, he's stepping up so much. I sometimes feel it's unfair on him as well, being unable to do a lot of things with him, but we just have to manage it at the moment," Leang said.
"It's quite daunting, at times it can be quite depressing, you don't know what could happen to you, how you're going to cope."
Raymond is happy to do his part and help out more around the house.
"I help her out whenever she needs help, for instance when we are washing the clothes," he said.
"A lot of time he will say, 'mum, we can do this, it will only get better'," Leang said.
Australians urged to register as organ donors
Leang is one of more than 1,800 Australians on the waitlist for an organ transplant - and one of 14,000 on dialysis, some of whom will also need to join the transplant waitlist.
The last week of July is Donate Life Week, and Australians are being asked to register as organ donors and potentially save a life.
The number of people receiving transplants reached a high in 2018 before falling dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data shows transplant waitlist times have still not recovered.
Steve Chadban, director of Renal Medicine at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, said the decline in organ donations could be due to uncertainty and a lack of confidence in the health system.
"What we suspect is that in some areas of the community where COVID had a really tough impact and maybe shook up people's faith in the health care system, in those areas, consent rates really dropped a long way," he said.
"And we really want to fix that up. We want people to be confident that we are here as an excellent health service doing the best things for their patient, for their community, and the really important thing is to improve donation and transplant rates."
Grandfather of eight Jeff Ahmad was given a new lease on life when he received new kidneys three years ago, after a rollercoaster of dialysis, a heart bypass and setbacks during COVID-19.
"I've got a life now to continue looking after my family, looking after my wife, looking after my kids," he said.
"And every day of my life I wake up and say this is amazing."
It's a gift thousands of others are hoping for.
For Leang and her family, organ donation would mean a second chance and more time together.
"I just hope my mum will get better and has a second chance, so we can as a family spend more time with each other and that my mum and I can share our love even more and spend more time with each other," Raymond said.
Chadban said it is important for people to learn about the process and options involved.
"It's so important for people from all walks of life to understand what's involved in donation, to think it through, to register, and to discuss that decision with their family so that everyone knows what they would like to do if that event arises."
Registering as an organ donor takes less than a minute and can be done through the website.
