JOHANNESBURG - Jamie Waller knows both sides of the organ transplant waiting list.
With a donor heart beating in her chest, she wakes up each day because a stranger made the life-saving decision to donate their heart.
She understands the miracle of organ donation after being sick for almost five years.
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She was almost at the point of death when a heart became available for her.
“To receive a heart that changed my life was amazing. I could not have done it without the family who agreed to give their child’s heart to someone who needed it,” Waller says.
But just as she began to embrace her second chance at life, Waller was confronted with a painful reality — her brother is now waiting for that same miracle.
“It’s genetic, something we didn’t know before. Now we find ourselves going through the same thing again, which is not easy,” she says.
More than 2,500 South Africans are on the organ transplant waiting list.
Alarmingly, less than 0.2% of our population is registered as organ donors.
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Less than 230 organ transplants are performed yearly across the country.
Transplant surgeon Dr Wille Koen says this is a grave concern.
“We hardly have 60% donors a year. The numbers are just not doing what they should be,” he says.
Koen adds that organ donor numbers have declined in South Africa over the years. This defies global trends, where donor numbers for cardiac, liver and other organ transplants are the best they have ever been.
“In South Africa, we are simply dragging behind,” Koen says.
He attributes this downward local trend to lack of awareness about organ donation.
Waller cannot help but feel helpless.
“[Organ donation] is one of the biggest decisions that you can make. It’s something that you just need to make sure your family is aware of. One person can save seven different lives, and that’s life-changing,” she says.