A women had a kidney transplant 40 years ago when she aged 16, and these days thanks her donor by staying engaged in life.
In March 1972, the young Auckland teen faced an uncertain future as a hereditary disease sucked the life out of her kidneys.On a Waikato road, that same year, a middle-aged man lost his life in a car crash. The next day one of his kidneys was transplanted into Martell's frail body.
After four decades, she is one of the country's longest surviving organ donor recipients - but would like to know the name of the man who, by losing his life, gave her a second shot. Efforts to find him through hospital records have been unsuccessful. "I'm hugely grateful - he and his family gave a 16-year-old another chance at life, one that desperately wanted a normal life."
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www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10788000It is proposed that medical practionors should let transplanted patient know who is the organ donor