#WomensMonth: Pinetown transplant recipient celebrates the gift of life

After her transplant, Chananie developed a new lease on life and qualified to attend the World Transplant Games held in the UK in 2019 as a member of the SA National team.

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Before her transplant, Chananie said she was struggling to lead an active life due to the toll that the illness took on her body and mind.

Chananie said the news came as a shock to her and her husband.

“We did not expect it at all as my regular check ups never gave any indication that I was approaching kidney failure. My husband I and were trying to start a family and after five years, we approached a fertility specialist who broke the news to us,” she said.

Initially, Chananie said she felt fatigued as she was studying towards her MBA at the time.

“I was building a career so I spent a lot of late nights studying and worked a full day.”

However, as her kidney function dropped below 15 per cent, she began to have an array of other issues affecting her iron levels, potassium levels, heart issues and even her liver started to take strain.

She said she lost a lot of weight and felt ill all the time with very little energy.

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“I turned yellow and did not want to eat. Ironically, I fell pregnant but being so ill, we lost that baby just before Christmas in 2013. I continued to worsen after that and eventually started dialysis with seven per cent kidney function in March 2014.

“Dialysis was not easy and I was sick each time with blood pressure issues and vomiting. Chananie received the call in May 2014 telling her that that they have found her a donor.

“I had little fear and told myself all would turn out okay. From day three, post double transplant (kidney and pancreas from the same deceased donor), my physio had me walking and literally I have not stopped. I had a lot of complications in the first five months post transplant and spent another 53 days in and out of hospital for treatment,” she said.

 

Making it against all odds

But once Chananie made it past those hurdles, she joined SA Transplant Sports Association and began to focus on two things; fitness and awareness of the dire need for more organ donors in South Africa, KZN in particular.

Chananie said she was told by her team of physicians that with the effect of all the medications, she probably wouldn’t finish her MBA – she proved them wrong.

“I finished my MBA, with five distinctions and narrowly missing a sixth. I have also gone on to achieve a lot of other things I did not think I ever would such as qualifying as a Springbok Athlete and representing SA at the World Transplant Games in Newcastle, UK in 2019.

The 45-year-old explained that the waiting is the hardest thing, even more so than the transplant surgery and adjusting to a new life of medications.

“The wait is the worst because we don’t know if or when a match may be found, or if at all.”

She said there is such a shortage of donors and quite frankly, more education needs to take place within the medical fraternity to ensure more donor referrals take place.

“Before that even, we as women and leaders in our households, in our sisterhoods and in our communities need to encourage others to have the organ donation conversation and discuss end of life wishes.”

She said women have a powerful influence and a voice which needs to be heard.

“We need to teach our children that the greatest gift we can give to another is life and love which is exactly what making a donation is about, a gift of a second chance at a healthy life.”

She added that people do not need to wait for death to become a donor.

“You can be a living kidney donor and you can be a living liver donor (lobes of the liver can be donated because the liver regenerates); you can donate bone marrow and save those with blood disorders and cancers; you can also donate more than just organs after death.”

Chananie recently lost her brother and said it comforted them to know that with a donation of his corneas, two people now have sight and his donation of bone, skin and tissue will help up to 50 others regain a normal life.

“We honoured Graham’s wishes and I am so proud of the legacy he has left.Chananie has been married for 11 years and described her husband, Jo as the most wonderful who has dedicated most of the last six years to her care.

“He is more than just a husband but also PE coach, tennis partner, fellow volunteer and dedicated dad to our three cats and a super German Shepherd dog (herself a champion Sports Dog).The support of her husband, family, special friends as well as wonderful colleagues at work kept Chananie going.

” I have a wonderful team of doctors. I received my transplant after just five months on the list – this is indeed very rare and there is no way to predict how soon or how long the wait can be. Some wait seven or eight year and some die waiting.”

TELL it all

The strong-willed Chananie is also Transplant Education for Living Legacies (TELL) volunteer, an NPO which was founded in 2018.

“Their focus is on education at a medical fraternity level involving the regional transplant coordinators.”Chananie advised women to let their voices be heard.

“Start at home, educate your families. All they need to know is on the TELL website www.TELL.org.za. From there, they can then take the discussion out into their places of worship, social centres, talk about it on social media and break the misconceptions and myths about organ and tissue donation. She also invite all the people who have had transplants (solid organ or bone marrow) to join the Transplant Sports Family by visiting www.transplantsports.org.za, membership is free.

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At the time of going to press, the contents of this feature mirrored South Africa’s lockdown regulations.

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