Peter Moore, 54 plans to swim an icy 7km river to help a fellow transplant candidate, even though he needs a transplant of his own. He hopes to inspire donors.
Peter Moore is a warrior! He was a navy marine and now uses his skills to raise awareness for organ donation in South Africa. He has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) which requires him to have a double lung transplant.
“I have COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)… BUT, I am a lot more than that, I am a warrior that will never give up…”
Peter suffered burns to his lungs when he rescued children from a Sandton creche after a chlorine gas leak. He now has between 18% and 24% lung capacity. Despite his struggles, he is determined to make a difference.
On the 7th of July, Peter will be swimming the Sundays River to raise awareness for organ donation in South Africa.
“I wanted to swim 7km on the 7th day of the 7th month to raise awareness for organ donation as one donor can save seven lives.”
However, he isn’t doing this swim to benefit himself, he met a young lady with cystic fibrosis and was inspired by her strength. He met Vanessa Neveling at Groote Schuur Hospital where she is in a Lung Transplant Programme.
“She has been in the hospital a lot and there is a fund to help her cover her hospital expenses, I want to help her.”
His swim will be helping Vanessa’s fund. The biggest fear is that he could get hypothermia. Due to his lung capacity, he will not be able to use his legs while swimming as that takes up a lot of oxygen. These challenges will not hold him back from completing his goal.
“Before I got ill I never knew that 1 Organ Donor could save 7 lives, I never knew that less than 1% of South Africans are Organ Donors and I certainly did not know that at any given time there are over 4000 children, moms, dads, brothers, sister etc. waiting for a life-saving Organ.”
“So I have made it one of my life missions to encourage and educate as many people as I can about Organ Donation, My family and I only became Organ Donors when I was told by my specialist that I need a Bi-Lateral lung transplant. It was also then that I discovered that there are so few Organ Donors in SA that my chances are as everyone else’s very slim of getting new lungs, or any life-saving Organ for that matter.”
“This got me to thinking, BUT WHY South Africans as tough as we, are we are also a very generous nation? Well, the answer is actually quite simple, as it was with me nobody knows how big a crisis it is till you or a loved one needs an organ. So if you have not signed up yet and informed your family of your choice you really should and to those that have a problem with it, ask yourself this question…If you or one of your loved ones needed someone else’s organ to live…would you accept it?”
To register as an organ donor in South Africa, you can do so online here.