A QUAKERS Hill woman recently given a new lease of life by a kidney transplant after a seven years wait is helping to get more donors for others.
Medelina Maligalig has so far got promises from her husband Andrew, several family members, friends and colleagues at a bank where she works and her customers.
She also advised them to inform their family before their death of their wishes to donate their organs to save people like her.
‘‘This is how I can repay the person who donated his kidney to me,’’ she said.
‘‘It made me a new person with energy and appetite. I feel great and look forward to waking up to a new day.
‘‘My good news came when my husband and I were attending a Sydney Harbour cruise party in January.
‘‘I gave my husband a thumb’s up when a caller from the transplant unit told me a kidney is available for me.’’
It was a contrast to when she was placed on a dialysis machine in 2006 after a kidney donated by her brother Reynaleo in 1991 failed.
Ms Maligalig can now visit the birth place of her husband in Ireland that was put off several times because of her illness.
She has to go for a medical checkup only twice a week now compared to daily after the operation in January, to three days a week in February.
Monica Walker, donation specialist nurse at Westmead Hospital said every family needed to know each other’s wishes to make the decision easier in event that organ donation could be offered.
“Some people find it difficult to bring up the subject of organ and tissue donation with family members, but having the discussion can help normalise the subject and make it more comfortable to talk about,’’ she said.
Medelina Maligalig has so far got promises from her husband Andrew, several family members, friends and colleagues at a bank where she works and her customers.
She also advised them to inform their family before their death of their wishes to donate their organs to save people like her.
‘‘This is how I can repay the person who donated his kidney to me,’’ she said.
‘‘It made me a new person with energy and appetite. I feel great and look forward to waking up to a new day.
‘‘My good news came when my husband and I were attending a Sydney Harbour cruise party in January.
‘‘I gave my husband a thumb’s up when a caller from the transplant unit told me a kidney is available for me.’’
It was a contrast to when she was placed on a dialysis machine in 2006 after a kidney donated by her brother Reynaleo in 1991 failed.
Ms Maligalig can now visit the birth place of her husband in Ireland that was put off several times because of her illness.
She has to go for a medical checkup only twice a week now compared to daily after the operation in January, to three days a week in February.
Monica Walker, donation specialist nurse at Westmead Hospital said every family needed to know each other’s wishes to make the decision easier in event that organ donation could be offered.
“Some people find it difficult to bring up the subject of organ and tissue donation with family members, but having the discussion can help normalise the subject and make it more comfortable to talk about,’’ she said.