Very few people are given a second chance at life. However, for one Ballarat woman a phone call did exactly that, allowing her to live as medical professionals say "an extraordinary life".
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Pauline Murphy, now 58, had lived up until the age of 13 a relatively normal life, but when she turned 14 her health began to decline and she started to experience kidney failure.
Soon after, on her 15th birthday, she began dialysis, shuttling between Ballarat and Melbourne to receive the lifesaving treatment.
Ms Murphy said although she was thankful for the necessary treatment, it robbed her from her teenage years and more importantly, her education.
"I missed a lot of school and I only went about three mornings a week and I couldn't socialise much either."
IN OTHER NEWS:
Ms Murphy's elder sister, Margaret Holt, said it was difficult to see her sister in and out of health facilities at such a young age.
"It was really tough for our family because her life revolved around hospitals," Ms Holt said.
"We never had the teenage years together to go out and do silly things because she was so unwell which was really saddening."
However, Ms Murphy's luck changed when she received a phone call in 1982 from a doctor at the Royal Melbourne Hospital who said a deceased kidney donor match had been found.
Just before her 19th birthday, without hesitation, Ms Murphy underwent the major surgery.
This June will mark 40 years since she received the transplant and is a "remarkable" milestone, Ballarat nephrologist and associate professor medicine Dr John Richmond said.
"In the Australian New Zealand Dialysis and Transplantation registry where every person who's ever been dialysed or transplanted is recorded, Pauline having survived 40 years ranks her in the top 200 kidney graft survivors ever," he said.
"Comparing that with the expectation of a deceased donor transplant survival rate of around 10 to 15 years, that's remarkable."
Ms Murphy, who experienced no serious complications or transplant rejection, a common occurrence during transplant procedures, said she was grateful to the person who donated their kidney.
"I'm so grateful to have received the phone call and it's allowed to live my life like before," she said.
Ms Holt added: "It's so great to see her now and how able she is".
However, the process of receiving the transplant was not linear for Ms Murphy, Ms Holt said. Ms Murphy lives with a mild intellectual disability and it is this disability Ms Holt said which stood as an initial barrier to her receiving the transplant.
"Back then the doctors in Melbourne wanted to leave the transplant for someone 'normal'," Ms Holt said.
She said it was only due to the advocacy of her father, Jim Murphy, a former sports journalist at The Courier, did doctors change their mind and allow Ms Murphy to undergo the procedure. "Our father saw red and fought and fought to get her on the transplant list and here we are 40 years later," Ms Holt said.
PUSH FOR MORE ORGAN DONORS
In Australia there are about 2000 people on dialysis who are in need of a kidney transplant. While Ms Murphy and her family said they were forever indebted to Ms Murphy's donor, they hope to see more people becoming organ donors in the future.
"I just want more people to donate their organs so that others like myself can have the same experiences I've been able to have," she said.
Similar sentiments were shared by Dr Richmond, who said transplants were not only a benefit to community allowing people to become more resourceful, but vital for overall life satisfaction.
"It improves their quality of life immensely and let's them go back to a normal life," he said. "For example, another patient of mine, who has had his transplant for 37 years, has been able to build a large, highly successful business, get married and have two children - none of which would have been possible with transplantation.
"We should continue to promote all organ donation including heart, liver and lung transplantation because there are no unofficial devices to keep people alive."
For more information on organ donation, click here.
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