At a time when Carolynne May felt down and out, a sign from her late father saved her life.
She spent much of her life battling kidney failure and after three transplants, losing multiple people close to her, she felt lost.
“I was really having a hard time, I was physically and mentally exhausted, and I got a phone call to say I could get a new kidney,” Carolynne said.
Exactly one month after her dad died, she was offered what would be her healthiest kidney.
But she wasn’t sure.
“I didn’t know what to do, but you never know when the next one will come, and I felt dad there with me,” she said.
“I knew I had to do it.”
This Donate Life Week (28 July – 4 August), people like Carolynne are able to reflect on the life-saving care they received with their new organs.
Carolynne was in her teens when she was diagnosed with Kidney failure.
Once she received the diagnosis, Carolynne shut herself off.
“I’ve blocked a lot of it out,” she said.
“I dealt with it a bit at the time. Mum said I was very angry, but I don’t remember a lot of it.”
Carolynne spent a large portion of the next few years in and out of hospital, trying medication before stabilising.
At 18, Carolynne found out she was pregnant and was told by many doctors she would not be able to carry the baby to term.
“I said ‘if she’s meant to be here, she will be’, and she was the first baby born in Victoria who had a mother on dialysis throughout the whole pregnancy and survived,” she said.
Carolynne had her first kidney transplant at 23, but this organ only lasted four and a half years before it failed.
“It shattered me because I thought I’d had the transplant and I was done,” she said.
“I went into a pretty deep depression, but then I discovered a book while in hospital called Embraced by the Light.
“It gave me a whole new outlook on life, I’ve seen things differently ever since.”
After a few more stints of dialysis, a few trips overseas and three more transplants, Carolynne said she’s never felt healthier.
“My creatinine is in the 70s and I’ve never seen it that low ever. All my other transplants have been over 110,” she said.
“Everything is going brilliantly.”
Carolynne was also the second person in the country to utilise the Austin Hospital’s Carolynne was also the second person in the country to utilise the Austin Hospital’s Kidney Machine Perfusion Program.
This allows organs to be protected during transport by using hypothermic (cold) and normothermic (body temperature) machine perfusion devices, meaning more with be viable for transplants.
Donate Life Week helps raise awareness and helps people like Carolynne get the help they need.
Help give someone a second chance by signing up to be an organ donor here.