Love Life; Gift Life has made a significant impact through sharing the stories of real people, putting a face to organ donation in South Africa.
Love Life; Gift Live (LLGL) is a non-profit organisation that aims to raise awareness around organ donation. LLGL strives to create a society where both medical practitioners and the public hold an informed and constructive attitude towards organ donation.
LLGL wants to help members of the public share their wishes about organ donation with their friends and family members.
LLGL believes that through education and transformation of the organ donation referral process, together the nation can end the waiting list of those awaiting life-saving transplants.
Love Life; Gift Life’s key message to the public is to encourage individuals to talk to their families about organ and tissue donation and to communicate their wishes to their next-of-kin.
The transplant stories shared on the Love Life; Gift Life website are the stories that give organ donation a face. Most stories are about the people who have been saved thanks to life saving donations whereas one story is about a young man who is waiting for a transplant. These are some of the faces and these are their stories…
Madimo Mokgosi received a liver transplant in 2013. She was diagnosed with hepatitis autoimmune disease in her matric year, at age 18. Madimo was treated with medicine for two years, but she couldn’t continue due to financial problems. Her situation became critical in April 2013, luckily 10 days later she received the call about a donor liver.
“In some black cultures there is a saying: ‘We want to bury our person in full.’ This deters many people from becoming an organ donor, but we need more donors to save more lives. I was saved by someone I will never get to know, but I know that person lives on, as he is living in me.”
After suffering from heart failure Shalendra Sing received a heart transplant in 2013. He was diagnosed with cardiac failure, his heart was only functioning at 7.5%.
“Last but definitely not least, my sincere thanks goes to the family who decided to donate the organs of their loved one. I was later told that there were 7 organs transplanted from this one donor and all the surgeries were successful. You guys are heroes in my opinion.”
Tina Beckbessinger is the longest surviving heart and double lung transplant recipient in SA! She was born with 3 holes in her heart, a missing tricuspid valve, an irregular and fast heart beat, and narrowed arteries between the heart and lungs. Chances of survival were minimal, but she did survive.
“The transplant has changed my life. From being bed bound to living a full and active life. I have taken part in 2 major cycling events, including the 2015 Cape Argus Cycle Tour! It is my goal to promote organ donation in South Africa to make people aware of the difference they can make in someone’s life and to inspire as many people as possible to “Live while you are ALIVE!”
Lunga Njikazi is 24 years old living in rural KwaZulu Natal. Lunga is currently waiting on the transplant list for a Kidney. He first noticed something was wrong when his legs started swelling. He woke up in a dialysis ward in King Edward Hospital and was blind for three days, he learned he had slipped into a coma twice. Lunga receives Haemodialysis twice a week at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital while he waits.
“At first, the only thing I have hoped for is a kidney transplant, but after the support I received nationwide, it gave me hope, it gave me more reason to live, now I’m not only hoping for a kidney transplant, but for the strength to educate and inform the public about the importance of becoming an organ donor.”
These are just 4 stories of many. Love Life; Gift Life hopes they add a personal element to transplants, which will resonate with the public. The non-profit started a support group on Facebook which is exclusively for pre- and post- transplant patients.
The founders of LLGL are 4 friends, who have all personally gone through the transplant process, and having had to endure the seemingly endless wait, the founding members acknowledge just how lucky they have been to receive their life-saving transplants.
It is because of this that LLGL was established in an effort to give back and to address the critical shortage of organ donors in South Africa by promoting awareness and education of the organ donor process.
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