A woman, who was given a new lease on life twice after her kidneys failed when she was still 25, is appealing for more people to register as organ donors.
Speaking to this newspaper on the eve of World Kidney Day, Amy Camilleri, now 41, described her time on dialysis as putting her life “on a big pause”.
Ms Camilleri is a living example of the importance of organ donation, which has helped her get off dialysis treatment and lead an active life.
She was first diagnosed with kidney failure two months after she married in February of 2001. She initially attributed the symptoms of fatigue and nausea to her pregnancy but by April she was diagnosed with kidney failure and soon after miscarried.
Less than a year later, Ms Camilleri received a kidney from her 55-year-old mother Josephine.
The date – March 13, 2002 – will remain etched in her mind, as will August 24, 2016, when she received a second kidney from her 25-year-old sister Daria, after the one she got from her mother failed in 2014.
“Thanks to my mother’s kidney I lived on to have two children and thanks to my sister’s kidney, I will see them grow up,” she said.
Between 2014 and 2016, she spent nearly two years receiving treatment – starting off with haemodialysis, which is a process of purifying blood for those with kidney failure.
She received the treatment three times a week for four hours at Mater Dei Hospital’s Renal Unit.
This saw her quality of life decrease significantly: she could not swim and had to control her food intake, cutting off several food types from her diet. Throughout the day she could only have one litre of fluids – including that contained in fruit and vegetables.
After the four-hour treatment, she did not have any energy left to do anything else, recalled Ms Camilleri, now a committee member of the Transplant Support Group.
She later had her treatment changed to a “less aggressive one” that she could receive at home. Called peritoneal dialysis, it uses the lining of the patient’s abdomen and a cleaning solution called dialysate to clean their blood.
“The two years of treatment put my life on a big pause – it felt like I was simply surviving,” Ms Camilleri added.
When her family saw how much she was suffering, they offered to get tested to see if they were a match, and her youngest sister was a perfect match.
“Although life didn’t stop throughout the treatment, it feels like only now am I truly living,” she said, urging potential donors to give someone a new lease on life.
“Renal patients who like me receive a kidney and can stop treatment, cannot wait until they get out of this place… but I have returned, if only to raise awareness about the ordeal that renal patients go through and how donations could make their life so much better.”
Those aged 16 and over who wish to donate their organs can now enrol in a register and specify which organs they would like to donate and, if they change their mind, they can deregister.
In the absence of such a law, they would have had to apply for a donor card but this did not ensure their organs would be donated on their death because the next of kin still had to give permission for the transplant to proceed.
More information on www.transplantsupport.org.mt.
Fun walk for transplant group
The Transplant Support Group, in collaboration with the Renal Unit at Mater Dei Hospital are organising a fun walk this Sunday.
The walk will start from Tigne Point at 10am, following registration at 9am. The participants will walk to Freedom Square in Valletta and the event should not take more than 90 minutes.
One of the aims of this activity is to promote healthy kidneys and lifestyles, and participants will also be able to register as organ donors during the event.
Goodie bags, water and a certificate of attendance will be handed out to participants.
A donation of €10 will be collected from participants to help fund events organised for those diagnosed with kidney failure.
More information on the Facebook Group called Transplant support group (Malta).
Amy Camilleri. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier