Page 14 - More than a match

A BIT OF

BACKGROUND HISTORY

n December 2010, my father passed away in Lagos, Nigeria. It
Iwas whilst the family were grieving and making arrangements
for the funeral that my brother told me he would not be able to

travel to Lagos, as he had end-stage kidney failure and needed a
transplant. I listened, stunned and speechless as he told me what
had caused his kidney failure and why he had not told me sooner.
With tears streaming down my face and hugging him so tight that
he could hardly breathe, I chastised him for not telling me sooner. I
was also upset with myself for not noticing something was wrong.
I asked him how he was coping, and he said he was on the organ

donor register waiting for a compatible kidney to become available,
but because his kidney function was deteriorating, he would need
dialysis. Dialysis is the treatment that replicates many of our kidney’s
functions, and without it, many people with kidney failure would
not survive. During our conversation, my brother told me although
most people have two kidneys, we could live a healthy and active
life with just one, which was something I was not aware of. As
we sat in my kitchen talking about dialysis over coffee, I knew I
wanted to give Tayo one of my kidneys; it made sense to me that if

my brother desperately needed a kidney and I could live well with

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