I remember sitting in a room with my nephrologist and my mum and my dad and they were talking about dialysis. It just seemed like the scariest thing to me. The thought of going from being so free to live my life, travelling and scuba diving, to being on a machine three times a week in hospital. That dialysis talk was really terrifying. That was when my dad said: Whatever happens, I’m going to donate a kidney to you.”

These are the words of Brooke Huuskes, who is forever grateful that she was able to receive a kidney transplant, donated by her father, before she ever had to undergo dialysis for kidney failure.

Thanks to her father’s incredible gift 10 years ago, Brooke has since been able to fulfil two of her biggest dreams - climbing Africa’s Mt Kilimanjaro, and the greatest of all, bringing a baby into the world.

More Australians are alive today because of organ and tissue donation. To register to be an organ and tissue donor, visit donatelife.gov.au – it only takes a minute.

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“It was one of the worst moments we could have experienced as parents. We’d gone to hospital thinking that we were going to get turned around and sent back home being over-anxious parents. To go from what we didn’t think was going to be an issue, to suddenly having our six-week old baby on life support, was numbing and shocking.”

These are the words of Andrew Martin, who reflects on the frightening moment he and wife Kylie faced when their precious baby daughter Ellie was placed on a ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit at a Sydney hospital.

In the third episode of Let’s Talk Organ and Tissue Donation, podcast host Michael Billings speaks to Andrew about Ellie’s diagnosis with a rare heart condition, their relocation to Melbourne for Ellie’s treatment, and her journey to receiving a heart transplant.  

More Australians are alive today because of organ and tissue donation. To register to be an organ and tissue donor, visit donatelife.gov.au – it only takes a minute.

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“His organs went to other people that needed them. That’s one part of his legacy – that he’s gone on to help those organ recipients and their families. I’m so proud of Jack.” 

These are the heartfelt words of Bonnie Power, whose 10-year-old son Jack died from a catastrophic brain injury after a road accident in 2018.

In the second episode of Let’s Talk Organ and Tissue Donation, podcast host Michael Billings speaks to Bonnie about the heart-breaking death of her beloved son Jack. “It’s the sort of thing you see on the six-o’clock news and you never think it’s going to happen to you,” she says.

In this episode, Bonnie talks about the day that would change her life forever; having to digest that Jack may not survive; and coming to the realisation that Jack would have wanted to help others by donating his organs.  

More Australians are alive today because of organ and tissue donation. To register to be an organ and tissue donor, visit donatelife.gov.au – it only takes a minute.

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“Hi, I’m James Sheppard and I’m here for a heart transplant.”

These were the words of heart recipient James Sheppard when he arrived at The Alfred Hospital’s Emergency Department after receiving the call he’d been waiting for – a donor heart had become available.

In the first episode of Let’s Talk Organ and Tissue Donation, podcast host Michael Billings speaks to James about his heart condition, restrictive cardiomyopathy – “it was like having a drummer inside my chest who didn’t know how to hold a beat” – his many heart treatments and surgeries, being placed on the waitlist for a heart transplant, and how quickly his life turned around after receiving a heart transplant.

Learn how James went from being mostly wheelchair bound prior to his transplant, to competing in the World Transplant Games within a year – something James credits his donor and donor family for.

More Australians are alive today because of organ and tissue donation. To register to be an organ and tissue donor, visit donatelife.gov.au – it only takes a minute.

Subscribe on LiSTNR: https://play.listnr.com/station/hit-bendigo

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Follow the touching and captivating stories from organ and tissue recipients, donor families, living donors, and expert medical and nursing specialists in DonateLife Victoria’s new podcast, Let’s Talk Organ and Tissue Donation.

In stirring interviews, podcast host Michael Billings unearths the personal stories behind rare organ donation and transplantation cases, receiving ‘the call’, the donation journey, and the life-changing moments for everyone involved. 

Join us every fortnight for a new episode.

There are more people alive in Australia today because of organ donation. Register to become and organ and tissue donor at donatelife.gov.au. It takes less than a minute – all you need is your Medicare card.

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.