Page 31 - More than a match

THE EMOTIONAL IMPACT

eing a potential donor is quite an emotional experience. I am quite
Ban emotional person by nature and cry at the drop of a hat, so my
journey was a tearful one. I had a roller coaster of emotions: some days

I was excited, positive, and full of hope about my intentions, and other
days I would be consumed with fear that I would not be a suitable
donor or Tayo’s body might reject my kidney. I felt the enormous
pressure of wanting to help and it was absolutely frustrating waiting
for the test results to come back! Whenever I saw Tayo, it was worrying
to see how his kidney failure was affecting his health; he was very tired
and had lost a lot of weight and was suffering very badly from gout

and constant itchiness (some of the side effects of kidney failure). He
was waiting patiently for the outcome of the assessment process, but I
knew his kidney function was deteriorating rapidly. Whenever he left
my home I would be in tears. It’s estimated that three people die each
day whilst waiting for a kidney; I had already lost one brother and
could not bear to lose Tayo as well.
The emotional impact was hard on my mum as she was still in mourning
in Lagos. She would call me almost every day for news on my brother’s
health. I knew if anything happened to Tayo, she would be totally

heartbroken and, in her eighties, I don’t think she would have recovered

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